GMPA spending capped

Article published: Tuesday, April 27th 2010

Central government has capped the amount of council tax revenue Greater Manchester Police Authority will receive over the next three years.

Soon after Manchester City Council put a freeze on council tax rates to aid the economic recovery, Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA), the body which sets police spending and oversees policing in the Greater Manchester area, have insisted on the need to raise their proportion of council tax by the same amount as 2008 and 2009. But the Department for Communities and Local Government overruled the decision to raise their precept to 7.5 per cent over the next three years.

Local Government Minister Barbara Follett slammed the GMPA and ensured that the police budget will be capped in 2011 and 2012.

“Where council taxpayers are faced with excessive increases it is right that we should once again take action to protect them. All authorities are aware that the Government is prepared to use its capping powers to achieve this,” she said.

The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) has condemned Government intervention as “unwanted interference”.

“Locally elected politicians know what our communities want…This was not a rash or irresponsible decision – it was a well-devised and well-executed strategy for policing. We all understand the financial constraints that our residents live with on a daily basis,” said Sir Richard Leese, defending the decision at the time.

A spokesperson for the GMPA, which is made up of city councillors among others from across the region, reiterated that the budget is all part of a three year plan, and believe the increase is highly necessary to account for “valuable resources” such as increased surveillance and an increase of 104 new officers in the next year. They expressed astonishment at the Government’s plan to impose a cap on future budgets without first consulting them.

Residents of Hulme however will be familiar with some of the more unnecessary police spending that goes on in Manchester. Just over a month ago GMP littered the area with yellow signs (pictured) which seemed to warn of some imminent crime wave.

Nigel Woodcock, Secretary of Hornchurch Court Residents Association, contacted GMP over this particular bit of investment. He told MULE that “Hulme and other working class areas get a raw deal in terms of policing and council tax value for money.”

Mr Woodcock believes the signs do more to make residents feel afraid than combat crime.

“No one was consulted about these signs and all they do is make a pretence that something is being done about crime because it’s the build-up to an election. Who are they trying to kid?”

Annual spending on policing has actually increased by £4.5 billion since Labour came to power in 1997, an increase of 50 per cent. The UK lavishes more on policing than any other industrialised nation in the world. In Manchester the increase has been even higher, and individual contribution of council tax towards GMP has risen on average from £54.10 to £143.33 since Labour’s term in office began.

Violent crime levels have been falling for many years, but figures show that fear of crime continues to climb. Many studies suggest that rising levels of surveillance, security and laws implemented, as well as an increasingly sensationalist media, have significantly heightened public perception of dangerous streets and that crime is out of control. This is particularly the case in the UK as opposed to mainland Europe.

Councillors involved in the decision to raise the precept were reluctant to comment on why police spending should get priority over others, stating that it would be politically sensitive during the elections.

Joe Beech

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Comments

1. the signs should read

   Warning
   Beware
   Who’s
   Police
   Robbing
   Here?

   All of us

   Comment by dave on April 27, 2010 at 6:06 pm

2. Our local police station is only open a few hours a week and we have no local police only PCSOs so where is the money going?

   Comment by Amy on April 27, 2010 at 6:27 pm

The comments are closed.