Western Daily Press (Saturday)
‘We’re paying for Bristol’s police’
SOMERSET taxpayers are “subsidising the policing in Bristol” and not getting a fair deal, a councillor has claimed.
Anthony Trollope-Bellew, who sits on Somerset West and Taunton Council, has criticised the amount of council tax Avon and Somerset Constabulary has claimed for the coming financial year.
The police force set its annual budget earlier this month, with police and crime commissioner Sue Mountstevens forced by elected councillors to accept a smaller rise in the council tax take than she originally intended.
But Mr Trollope-Bellew said the rise was still too high and too many of the police’s resources were being allocated to urban areas.
He made the comments, which he described as “a perennial rant”, at a virtual full council meeting where the council’s own budget was agreed.
He said: “If you look at the council tax that we take, it’s £167.88 [for a Band D property]. If you look at the police and crime commissioner, it’s £242.81.
“Now I don’t know about everybody else, but certainly where I live we see a policeman once in a blue moon. We [the council] at least pick up the rubbish every week.
“It really bugs me every year how much the police take and they don’t actually give us what we pay for.
“We are subsidising the policing in Bristol.”
Mr Trollope-Bellew was the last leader of West Somerset Council before it was dissolved, along with Taunton Deane Borough Council, in 2019 to form the current council.
He represents the South Quantock ward, comprising numerous villages on the western side of the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including his home village of Crowcombe.
Cllr Chris Booth, who represents the Halcon and Lane area of Taunton, said he sympathised with Mr Trollope-Bellew’s concerns.
He said: “We’ve had a bit of to and fro the last couple of weeks about the amount.
“If you think it’s high now, Sue Mountstevens wanted to raise this further – it would have been £15 extra on average for a Band D property.”
Ms Mountstevens’ original budget proposals, including a £15 rise for the average council tax bill, were vetoed by the Avon and Somerset police and crime panel earlier this month. The amended proposals will see a rise of £13.39 for average ratepayers, with the remainder of the £15 being drawn from existing reserves.
The additional funding will help to fund an additional 70 police officers.
Mr Booth added: “Often we in Somerset feel that we don’t get quite the services that Bristol gets.
“But obviously there are elections in May and we shall see what happens with regards to that.”
Elections for a new police and crime commissioner will take place on May 6, having been delayed from May 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Mountstevens, who has been in the post since 2012, indicated in January that she would not be standing for a third term.
The full list of candidates aiming to succeed her will be published next month.