Councillor welcomes big boost for police funding
GOVERNMENT plans for the ‘biggest increase in police funding since 2010’ have been welcomed by a councillor who called for extra cash to tackle crime just one day before they were revealed.
Retired chief inspector Coun John Taylor tabled a motion at a Rochdale Council meeting urging ministers to give Greater Manchester more money, as the conurbation was not getting its ‘fair share’.
Conservative Coun Taylor said the city region had received a well belowaverage funding increase last year and that Rochdale was being particularly badly-hit by rising crime levels.
The motion was carried by the chamber - although the Tories ultimately abstained on the vote, due to a Labour amendment they felt politicised the issue.
But Coun Taylor has now hailed the government’s plans to inject an extra £970m into the police coffers over the next financial year £34.7m of which will go to Greater Manchester Police.
Referring to the 6.23 pc rise he said: “It’s a real step in the right direction, it will help keep places like Rochdale safer. It will certainly go some way to increasing safety across the conurbation of Greater Manchester.”
The Wardle and West Littleborough representative said he was disappointed by Labour’s amendment to his motion but was pleased to get the issue ‘up in people’s minds’.
“It would have been better for us all to stand together, it’s not about what happened previously, it’s about how we move forward and get their fair share,” he said.
Conservative leader Coun Ashley Dearnley also welcomed the proposed boost to force coffers set out in the provisional police funding settlement for 2019/20’.
He said: “That’s really good news, as with everything it is about allocating priorities, and in my view the priority is that we get more funding for the police, so that’s really positive.”
The settlement ‘will give Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham the ability to increase the amount council tax payers contribute towards policing.
It enables him - and other Police and Crime Commissioners in England - to put up the police precept by a maximum of £2-per-month on Category D properties without holding a local referendum.
The £34m rise in Greater Manchester is partly based on forecasts of how much this will bring in - a fact not lost on Labour’s Coun Liam O’Rourke.
The cabinet member for resources says the proposals may work in more affluent areas, where property prices are generally higher, but will not benefit more deprived regions.
He said: “A large part of the extra funding the government is putting forward is giving Andy Burnham the ability to raise the precept higher. In an area like Rochdale, which has a traditionally low council tax base, it simply won’t raise the funding necessary to protect our communities.” “That’s my main concern, Conservative members said we need more resources and a fair share. But the policy of the government seems to suggest we’re not going to get a fair amount of resources, because of our low council tax base.”
He went on to claim that Coun Taylor’s assessment of the situation was too optimistic - and called on the government to reconsider the plan.
“It’s absolutely not going to be enough, especially when you consider we have lost 2,000 police offices and 1,000 civilian staff over the last 10 years.
“I think saying it’s a step in the right direction is too generous to be honest. It’s a baby-step along a long, long road.
“The government needs to look again and actually look at putting some serious funding into policing to reverse the decline of the last eight years.”