WAVERLEY Council is to appeal to the Government not to require rebilling of the borough's council tax payers at a cost of £95,000 if it proceeds with the threat to cap Surrey Police Authority. The police authority's appeal against the Department for Communities and Local Government's (DCLG) threat to cap the policing budget has now been submitted. And in a statement issued this week, the police authority accused the Government of undermining Surrey's chief constable for the sake of £3.84 a year per housholder. At issue is the police authority's decision to raise its precept by 9.7 per cent, despite Government warnings that it wanted increases limited to five per cent. Waverley's executive, while deciding not to get involved in the debate about capping, is asking that if any changes are made they should affect the council tax figures next year, not this. Rebilling, at an estimated cost of £600,000 across the county and £95,000 in Waverley alone, was described as "a pointless exercise". Waverley's director of finance Paul Wenham said Waverley would recover the cost from the police authority, but ultimately it would fall on council taxpayers. "We don't want rebilling because of the workload on this authority - another 50,000 bills, the issuing of council tax benefit notices again," said Mr Wenham. "It is not somewhere we want to go and if it is a cost borne by council tax payers, it isn't a fruitful exercise." David Munro suggested that the money saved by the taxpayer through capping wouldn't be much more than the £95,000 rebilling cost. In its appeal against capping the police authority and the force are stressing that they have lobbied for years for a change in the Government-funding formula used to allocate grant, as it takes no account of the increasing risks facing Surrey from criminals targeting the county and the escalating threat of terrorism. Emphasis is also laid on the £50m saved in the last nine years through a series of innovative measures, including the reduction in the number of policing divisions from four to three. But in spite of these measures - and a grading of "excellent" for efficiency and use of resources from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last year - the force and authority are facing an increasing funding gap and the threat of capping. Jim Smith OBE, chairman of Surrey Police Authority, said: "We have maintained from the start that, as an authority, we will be willing to appeal against the threat to cap the policing budget, and that determination is shared by the force. "Our first duty is to ensure that the people of Surrey are served by a police force that is appropriately funded to meet its responsibilities now and in future. "We feel that the budget increase we propose for the first year of our three-year plan is necessary to fund important protective operations, safeguard neighbourhood policing and protect the county from the growing threats posed by terrorism and cross-border criminality from the capital and surrounding areas. "We hope that the Government recognises the importance of these priorities, that our plan commits us to below five per cent increases in the subsequent two years and that it retracts the threat of capping." Dr Sue Martin, chief executive of the Surrey Police Authority, added: "Local people have told us consistently over the years that they are prepared to pay more for their policing, rather than settle for a reduced standard of service. "If we are capped, we would be returning just £3.84 a year (32p per month) to a Band D householder - and yet this money will make a real difference to Surrey Police's ability to meet new challenges from cross-border crime and terrorism." Chief Constable Mark Rowley said: "The escalating problem of criminals targeting Surrey has been raised with the Government many times, and it continues to cause myself and my police authority colleagues' grave concern. "Around half of the criminal threat facing Surrey is from London and other neighbouring high crime areas, and we are now hitting the critical tipping point where the majority of our criminal threat comes from outside the county." He said Surrey Police's central grant allocation has decreased in real terms by approximately 25 per cent over the past 10 years. An appeal for an interim special grant of £18m per year for the next three years, to take Surrey to the South East average of funding, was refused. "The authority had no option but to go to local people for financial help in addressing the risks we face. "If the Government goes ahead with capping, the consequences are likely to be potential reductions in neighbourhood policing and delayed and reduced implementation of new teams planned to combat cross-border crime and terrorist threats."
