THE Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Surrey, David Munro, has expressed concern over plans to cut more than £27million from key Surrey Police budgets.

The force launched its new Policing in Your Neighbourhood model on April 3, little over a month before the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections are to be held on May 5.

This major reorganisation – announced last November to cope with an anticipated £25million cut to Surrey Police’s central government funding – will lead to 234 staff and 32 officers being cut from the force, with a 57 per cent drop in officers in the local policing team.

But since Surrey Police’s announcement, the Chancellor George Osborne revealed that spending on policing will be protected in line with inflation for the current Parliament.

As a result of that decision, and Surrey Police’s 1.99 per cent increase to its share of the council tax bill, the force’s budget will see no cut in 2016/17 and will in fact grow by £6.9million from £205.7million in 2015/16 to £212.6million in 2016/17.

Following the Chancellor’s U-turn, Mr Munro, who is currently the Surrey county councillor for Farnham South, has vowed to review the cuts to Surrey Police if elected next month.

He said: “I am concerned over these plans which will lead to the loss of over 30 officers and over 200 staff. This reorganisation was first announced in November, before the Spending Review set out that the Government would protect the policing budget to 2020, and has not changed to reflect this.

“As such cuts of this scale may not be required as Surrey Police’s budget will actually grow this year.

“If elected, I intend to carry out a root-and-branch review within six months to check the new model is serving residents properly.”

Under the new Policing in Your Neighbourhood (PIYN) model, between 2015 and 2019 the force stands to make savings includi\ng in the following areas:–

• £10.2million from the local policing budget, with the Safer Neighbourhood Team being reduced from 438 officers to 187

• £5.5 million will be cut from the specialist crime command – some 18 per cent of its current budget

• £3.8 million will be cut from the force’s operations command.

But since announcing the PIYN shake-up, Surrey Police have maintained money is not the only motivation for the new model – which also adapts the force to reflect the changing nature of crime in the county.

Over the last three years, Surrey Police have seen a 153 per cent increase in reports of rape, a 122 per cent increase in reports of sexual offences and a 34 per cent increase in reports of domestic violence in the county.

During the same period, reports of house burglaries have fallen by 24 per cent and reports of car thefts is down 32 per cent.

“This is not all about money,” Surrey’s then-Chief Constable Lynne Owens said when announcing the new model in November, before her resignation from the force.

“The nature of crime is changing and this is our response to it. We are re-focusing our services to protect the vulnerable and tackle the changing risks, threats and harm our communities face.

“We’ve seen huge increases in the number of reports of rape and other sexual offences over the past three years, and a third of these cases are historical. Quite simply, we haven’t been able to keep up with this volume of demand within our current model.

“We recognise that a visible presence is valued by the public, but in reality victims are more likely to be targeted in their homes and online than on the streets. We have to change the way we deliver our services to reflect that.”

Surrey Police have been heavily criticised in two recent reports by the police watchdog.