DEBATE surrounding the controversial merger between Surrey and Sussex Police looks set to continue, with several MPs protesting against the move. Surrey's 12 MPs - including South West Surrey's Jeremy Hunt - tabled an early day motion last week, urging Home Secretary Charles Clarke to reconsider his proposals. With no support for a voluntary merger at an extraordinary meeting of the Surrey Police Authority (SPA) earlier this month, Mr Hunt expressed his feelings on the issue. "My colleagues and I who represent Surrey all unanimously oppose the Home Secretary's controversial proposals to merge Surrey and Sussex Police," he said. "Personally, I think replacing the current structure with regional police forces will seriously damage the relationship between local people and the police. "A good bond between the community and the police is so important. If this disappears, local accountability will be eroded. "The government must avoid modernising the police service into something distant and unresponsive to people's demands for a visible police presence on their streets, in their towns and in their villages," he added. Meanwhile, Mr Clarke's proposals have caused the first casualty in Surrey, with Liz Campbell, chairman of SPA for the past two years, announcing her desire to leave the independent authority. Citing the seemingly inevitable merger as a factor in her resignation, Mrs Campbell will move on to head a national charity. Serious concerns over the decision to press ahead with the merger have also been expressed by the joint downland area county local committee. Committee chairman Christina Freeman expressed a number of concerns about the effects on neighbourhood policing and the cost. She said: "Sussex Police has been increasingly moving towards neighbourhood policing, which is a key means of increasing public reassur-ance. "We want to ensure our neighbourhood teams stay in place so they really get to know their community and their community gets to know them." She said she was concerned about the price the residents would have to pay, "and the West Sussex locals will no longer get the police priorities they deserve". She said: "Surrey Police charges its communities a lot more than Sussex Police. A merger could mean as much as a 20 per cent hike in the police authority charge to our residents. This is totally unacceptable. "And because West Sussex County Council this year received a disastrous annual settlement from the government, we would expect to see the government funding such an increase. "Merely amalgamating Sussex and Surrey Police information technology will take £20 million alone. Add re-branding and staff reorganisation and the potential cost is enormous. "In the drive for a quick result, we believe the costs have not really been properly thought through. "However, we are not the only ones concerned about the cost of merging forces – Downing Street's own strategy unit has warned mergers would be expensive and disruptive. This contradicts claims by the Home Secretary that the benefits of merging will outweigh costs. "We will want to see a single local policing board for West Sussex because it would be well-placed to set local policing priorities in consultation with county local committees and other partners and communities."
