Council tax rise approved to fund Wiltshire Police

7 February 2019, 14:48 | Updated: 7 February 2019, 14:54

Plans to put up council tax to boost funding for Wiltshire Police, have been approved.

The part of the bill we pay for policing will go up by an average of £2 a month, to £17.19.

Angus Macpherson said: "I am pleased that we have had a positive response from the public throughout the consultation; at area board and local locality meetings, through social media and the website. 

"The consultation clearly showed that the public are in favour of the increase with 68% of respondents supporting the rise.

"Demand continues to increase, yet our allocation of the funding available nationally disadvantages us. The police are responding to more incidents whilst working with less.

"In fact we receive the fourth lowest funding per head of population in England and Wales."

The increase will raise £6.3 million and means that an additional 41 police officers will be recruited, alongside two dedicated cyber-crime staff.

"In the feedback I received the public were very clear that they wanted more visibility.

"A number of these additional officers will be aligned to community policing teams focusing on 999 calls in the hope that this will enable others to focus on proactive policing in the community which will enable the public to see more of the police.

"I will continue to fight for fairer funding for Wiltshire so that we get a reasonable share of the national funding pot.

"I am pleased today that the Police and Crime Panel have recognised the result of the consultation, the strength of the case, and have endorsed the precept."