Have your say on Northumbria Police's share of your Council Tax

Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner is asking for residents’ views on the level of the police precept.

The Government say Northumbria Police will receive central grant funding of £222.7m in 2017/18, a cash reduction of £3.0m.

This figure can be increased to £259.6m in total funding for 2017/18 - but only if the police precept part of the Council Tax is raised by £5 per year for a Band D property.

If the precept is not raised by that amount there will be further cuts of up to £1.9m. This is in addition to the funding reduction of over 23% that Northumbria has suffered over the past five years.

In Northumbria people living in a band D property currently pay £93.33 per year for their police service. A £5.00 per year increase on that figure, as required by the Government, would mean an extra 10p a week.

Most residents in Northumbria have a band A property and for those the increase would be less than 7p a week (£3.33 for the full year).

Police and Crime Commissioner Dame Vera Baird QC, said “The Chief Constable and I are doing our very best to preserve the high standards of policing we are used to and we have looked at all options to save money to protect neighbourhood policing. I am therefore asking if people would be content to pay a maximum increase of 10p a week to minimise further cuts.”

People can email their views to [email protected] by January 22.