Tax rises to bolster police numbers and fund bus reforms

Tax bills are set to rise for every household in Greater Manchester, with the cash paying for more police and bus service.

The combined authority is considering budget proposals, including free passes for teenagers, which would cost the average household an extra £33 per year.

A combined authority meeting on Friday heard leaders are also proposing to raise the police part of tax bills by £24, to generate £18m.

This would fund 320 new police recruits, including 220 neighbourhood officers.

Mayor Andy Burnham had already revealed his part of the precept would rise by £9 for the average Band D bill to fund an overhaul of bus services.

Local authorities said they were effectively being forced to rely on raising tax rates to ‘bridge the gaps’ caused by massive cuts to funding from central government.

One said the situation was ‘tantamount to a ransom’ because of the strength of feeling about community safety across the city region.

Mr Burnham said: “This is no way to fund essential public services, let’s make that clear.

“We can’t raise the same amount of money from our council tax to support GMP that other parts of the country can, so you’re basically saying further down the road, parts of the country can’t have the same level of public services as wealthier areas.

“We must send this message back to the government. We cannot be in this position next year. The pledge that austerity is over needs to be delivered because we can’t go on in the same way.”

Other councils highlighted that 2,000 officers had been taken off the streets of Greater Manchester since 2010, meaning local leaders were ‘getting their ears bashed’ because of government cuts.

Oldham council leader Sean Fielding said: “When the government referred to making it possible for us to increase this precept more than we had previously been allowed to, they used words like freedom and flexibility.

“But as far as I’m concerned on this issue, it’s not freedom, it’s not flexibility.

“They know the strength of feeling on community safety out there in the public, they know that politicians on the front line, council leaders and councillors, are the people who are getting their ears bashed on the market, on the street, on the doorsteps over this issue.

“As far as I’m concerned, what they refer to as freedom and flexibility to raise this precept is tantamount to a ransom. They know the pressure we are under to tackle policing and community safety but it’s pressure that we’re now under because of decisions they’ve taken.”

The proposal for the police precept, which has been subject to a public consultation, will be presented to a combined authority panel next week.

And the full budget will be tabled for approval at a meeting on 15 February.

No change is proposed to the fire service element of the mayor’s tax bill.

Leaders said they would ‘reluctantly’ support the budget plans but emphasised the need to send a ‘strong message’ to ministers about fairer local government funding.

Ministers announced in December that police and crime commissioners would be able to increase the policing element of council tax by an extra £24 for Band D properties, plus an extra £161m was being made available for the 43 forces across England and Wales.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said these measures, in addition to money for serious and organised crime units and counter-terrorism, equate to a total increase in funding for the police system of ‘up to £970m’, the biggest since 2010.

However, Greater Manchester leaders said the funds raised by increasing the precept ‘doesn’t go anywhere near’ compensating the impact of budget cuts during the past decade.

Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett, said: “I am concerned about the direction of travel. We can’t just go on taxing people at a local level, especially some of the poorest within our society to pay for public services.

“I have to say it has all been orchestrated, from what I can see, by central government meddling, which is absolutely disgraceful.”

Mr Burnham had earlier this week unveiled his bus reform plans, including the promised free bus passes for 16-18-year-olds.

A key part of the mayor’s manifesto, the ‘opportunity passes’ will be part-funded by the precept rise along with contributions from the education sector and commercial sponsorship.

“There’s a simple argument that we need to put before the Greater Manchester public; we will never improve the buses if we don’t have more people on them and that’s why I’m making this proposal,” the mayor said.

He added: “Greater Manchester’s bus services had been trapped in a vicious circle, with passenger numbers going down, ticket prices going up as a result and services being withdrawn.

“We have got to try to turn that around. But we have to have our eyes open that it is a major undertaking.”

James Illingworth, Local Democracy Reporter