Council tax to rise to pay for new police officers

A survey run by the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite asked if residents were willing to pay an extra £1 per month, which would enable the force to pay for 55 new officers.

The new council tax rate will come into effect from April 1.

A total of 3,268 people responded to the consultation, which lasted for three weeks.

The result was that 78.3 per cent said they were prepared to pay an extra £12 a year for policing. 8.3 per cent were prepared to pay a smaller increase of £4 a year while 13.4 per cent said they would not want to pay any more. 1,349 people also provided comments.

Mr Ablewhite said: “I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my consultation. It is important that I gauge the opinion of the people when making decisions such as this and the responses have given me a clear indication of the broad support people have for the police.

“A clear theme was that people were prepared to pay more if the money was spent on more officers that could make a difference. I can give my assurance that the additional money raised through this year’s council tax will be used to recruit 55 new warranted officers.

The results of the consultation were presented to the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel at a meeting yesterday, and the panel supported the proposal.