Have your say on council tax bill rise plan to boost police numbers in Wigan

The Greater Manchester Police precept public consultation will ask householders what they think of a proposed increase to funding the force's work in 2022/23 to "fund improvements to policing to help keep communities safe by boosting response times to reported crimes and funding more officers."

Supporters say the proposed rise comes after "clear evidence" of improvement in GMP performance under the new Chief Constable, Stephen Watson.

The precept is the police element of council tax, and the consultation proposes a £10 increase for a Band D property or £7.77 for a Band B property – which the majority of Greater Manchester taxpayers will pay. Backers say the proposed increase, along with the central Government policing grant, will fund:

The transformation of the GMP contact centre that deals with 999 and 101 calls. The investment will increase staffing levels and flexibility to ensure calls are answered quickly and police officers are sent to those in need immediately.

A total of 438 additional police officers, with 60 of them dedicated to road safety which will allow TravelSafe officers to focus on other policing such as public transport safety.

Continuation of the new Operation Avro days of action. These days, which will take place in each area of Greater Manchester, see a surge of officers and specially trained teams dealing with issues communities tell GMP they want to see dealt with.

A community messaging system that Neighbourhood Policing Teams will use to inform local communities about what they are doing and that the public can use to get more involved in working with local police officers to identify issues of concern within the locality.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority says that the proposed precept increase is needed to help make up for many years of funding cuts that has "hollowed out" GMP.

Between 2011-19, the Government cut the grant they provide to GMP in real terms by £215m, which resulted in 2,000 fewer police officers, 1,000 fewer support staff and devastating cuts to other essential resources.

The grant GMP received for 2020/21 was £10m less than it received a decade ago in 2010/11, and that is without factoring in inflation. Since 2017, asking the public of Greater Manchester to fund a "modest increase" in the police precept has allowed the Mayor to enable the recruitment of 992 more police officers with GMP.

The current police precept for a Band D property is £218.30 which would increase next year to £228.30 a year and a Band B property will go up from £169.78 to £177.55.

Over this financial year, the Mayor Andy Burnham and Deputy Mayor Beverley Hughes, have sought to address the concerns raised by HMICFRS in their inspection of GMP in December 2020. Under Mr Watson, who took office in May, there is a new improvement plan and there has already been significant progress in terms of performance:

The 52-week average answer time for 999 calls of 36 seconds has reduced to 27 seconds by the end of 2021.

There has been a 55 per cent reduction in the waiting list for incidents to be dealt with.

An investment in 167 extra new cars for response officers and increased driver training capacity so more staff can respond to emergency situations.

A focus on arresting more criminals with the announcement to re-open the Bolton custody suite to support this. The proposed precept will help fund the re-opening.

A 92 per cent attendance rate at burglaries with the aim to offer attendance to every victim.

Compliance with crime recording standards improved from 77 per cent to over 90 per cent, with over 95 per cent for crimes involving some of the most vulnerable victims.

Mr Burnham said: “Having withheld the full increase of the police precept this time last year due to performance issues, GMP is now in a different position. We now have a new Chief Constable with a new improvement plan, and we should show our confidence in that plan. That is why should be backing him through more resources to get GMP to where it needs to be.

“Under the new Chief Constable’s leadership, he has already made considerable progress in tackling crime and remains on track to fully implement his improvement plan. While there is still more to do, I hope the public will agree with me in this consultation process to support our police by giving them more funding so they can truly transform into the service we want them to be and keep our communities safe.”

Ms Hughes said: “As we don’t have the same number of frontline officers we had back in 2010, it is vital that we continue to invest in our force to make sure they are focused on and have the resources they need to fight and prevent crime. Funds raised by the police precept will help us make further and faster changes to GMP including response times to reported crime, arresting more criminals, a one hundred per cent attendance offered to every victim of burglary, and more officers recruited to improve road safety.

"We want the public to have confidence in GMP again and with the help of local taxpayers through the police precept, I know we can do that.”

The public can respond to the police precept consultation at www.gmconsult.org before Thursday January 27. The final precept needs to be agreed by the Greater Manchester Police, Fire and Crime Panel which is made up of councillors from each of the 10 councils and is chaired by a councillor.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here and viewing our offers.