SURREY’S Police and Crime Commissioner David Munro has unveiled plans to increase the policing element of the council tax bill by an inflation-busting 1.99 per cent in April - the same increase he criticised his predecessor for just six months ago.

Coming on the back of a negative annual assessment of Surrey Police by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s (HMIC), Mr Munro said ahead of the PCC election in May that taxpayers were not getting “bang for their buck” under Surrey’s then-independent PCC Kevin Hurley and vowed to “make every pound of taxpayers’ money count” if elected.

A follow-up HMIC report upgraded Surrey Police’s overall rating from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ just last month, coming after the force launched its new ‘Policing in Your Neighbourhood’ model in April.

However, rather than scale back the force’s precept increase for 2017/18 on the back of this positive report, Mr Munro has instead proposed the same 1.99 per cent increase - the maximum allowed by the Government without triggering a referendum - as his predecessor, blaming Government cutbacks.

The Conservative PCC is inviting people across the county to fill in a short online survey on whether or not they would support the proposed tax hike as he launches his annual budget consultation.

The survey will help inform the budget proposals for 2017/18 which will be presented to Surrey’s Police and Crime Panel early next year and can be accessed online at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PoliceFunding.

Mr Munro, who resigned as a Farnham councillor following his election triggering August’s by-elections, said: “One of my key responsibilities as the elected PCC is to set the policing element of the council tax in Surrey and it is important for me to hear the views of our residents who will be paying it.

“I want to ensure we make our communities as safe as possible and continue to provide a police service the people of Surrey can be proud of.

“While some more traditional crimes are reducing, Surrey Police has changed its policing model over the last year to combat significant increases in reports of crimes such as rape, domestic abuse, cybercrime and complex abuse cases.

“At the same time the force has had to deliver significant savings but there is still further to find.

“I believe this proposed small increase will enable Surrey Police to concentrate on tackling those areas of crime that are effecting the most vulnerable in our communities while providing that balance with the reassuring visible street policing that people have told me is important to them.”

Currently, the annual cost of policing for a Surrey household in a ‘Band D’ property is £220.19 which is already the highest police precept in the UK. The proposed rise would bring that up to around £224.50 - an increase of £4.31 for the year or 8p a week.

This far outstrips the current UK inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which saw the average cost of everyday household goods and services increase by 0.6 per cent in the year to August.

Ahead of his election, Mr Munro also promised to carry out a “root and branch” review of Surrey Police’s new Policing in Your Neighbourhood (PIYN) model within six months of its roll-out, after expressing concerns about plans to axe 234 staff and 32 police officers from the force.

Responding to a question by The Herald, Mr Munro confirmed this week that following this review he is “pleased” with the progress of Surrey Police’s new policing model.

He continued: “Serving our communities must be at the heart of policing in Surrey and when I took up office in May I was very keen to pay close attention to how the PIYN project was working.

“As with any change there was some concern about the impact this new model would have. However I am pleased to say that having reviewed its progress so far, I am confident that Surrey Police is on the right track and that PIYN is delivering what it set out to do.”