As Police and Crime Commissioner for County Durham and Darlington, one of my most important responsibilities is to set the policing budget every year.
As residents, you play a vital role in this process, and I would like to thank you for helping me to understand what you need, to feel safer.
Since first being elected as your PCC, four years ago, I’ve vowed to keep you central to my safety work. This year’s budget is no different, with investment closely aligned to the areas of policing you have told me are important.
As you can imagine, setting a budget in today’s economy is an extremely challenging process. Only 71% of our budget comes from the central government grant, which leaves us with a deficit to meet through the money you pay as part of your council tax – known as the precept.
This year, the costs of policing have continued to increase, placing additional pressure on our finances. I’m grateful to the overwhelming number of you who understand the need for continued growth, despite these challenges which are impacting all families. During my recent consultation, 60% of you indicated you would pay a further £15 or more a year towards policing, which is above and beyond the limit set by the Government. I’ve taken this onboard and have committed to protecting the strong and visible policing you have told me is vital. This will mean a small adjustment in the money you pay towards policing in 2025-26, amounting to an extra 27p per week for a Band D property. Most households will pay less than this as we have a higher proportion of households in the lower tax bands.
Your contributions will help me tackle the issues you’ve told me are important.
This includes:
• Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)
• Drug Crime and Drug Related Crime
• Serious Organised Crime
• Rape and Sexual Violence
• Policing Visibility.
We will sustain police officer numbers to deliver a visible and proactive presence on your streets and robustly tackle offending that is driven by alcohol and drug addiction. We will help retain PCSOs numbers in your neighbourhoods and fund investment in technology to improve the effectiveness of crime investigation and problem-solving. Elsewhere, we will fund roads policing improvements to tackle anti-social driving and prevent criminals using our roads for serious organised crime including County Lines.
Last year, your council tax contributions funded extra police officers, the state-of-the-art Durham Investigative Hub, a new call-handling telephone system and extra operators so we can respond quicker when you call the control room for help, a new online service to keep victims of crime up-to-date with their cases and to signpost them to support and, importantly, extra PCSOs and Special Constables. Of course, I want to do more. There’s a growing inequity that must be urgently addressed to ensure counties like Durham are no longer left behind. With a fairer slice of the cake, there’s no limit to what we could achieve to keep our communities safe, and I will continue to work at the highest level to secure a better deal.