A police commissioner has warned she must increase council tax bills to avoid making £4m worth of cuts – but has also pledged to use the money to reopen closed police stations.

Proposals to up the policing element of council tax for households in the Northumbria Police area by up to 7.7 per cent were announced on Friday (January 5).

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Kim McGuinness said freezing the police precept on residents’ bills at current levels would mean the force having to cut its spending by £4.2m, the equivalent of 113 job losses.

But the Labour politician promised that the extra money generated would also be used to reopen police stations that have closed since 2010 and set up a region-wide unit dedicated to tackling nuisance motorbikes involved in anti-social behaviour.

In a consultation that will run until Monday, January 22, residents are being presented with three options:

  • A 7.7 per cent police precept increase, equivalent to 72p per month for a Band A property;
  • A 5.9 per cent rise, which is 56p per month for a Band A property;
  • A freeze in the precept for 2023/24. 

Ms McGuinness’ office said that the larger increase “could potentially allow the reopening of some police stations”, as well as providing money to hire extra investigators to tackle online crime and also set up the motorbike taskforce.

The extra staffing plans would be dropped under the 5.9 per cent increase, while freezing bills would result in a £4.2m budget cut.

Ms McGuinness said that inflation and other rising costs meant that the police force faces a “stark” financial shortfall of more than £7m and that adding to people’s bills was the “only way we can afford to deliver the things residents want to see if we aren’t given sufficient Government funding”.

The PCC, who will leave her role in May as she is standing to be North East mayor, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have seen over £148m taken out of Northumbria Police since 2010 by this Conservative Government. It is an unavoidable fact and when they give us our funding settlement they include a full precept uplift in that, which is a really unfair way to fund things.

“So some of this is that we do need to ask the public to contribute in order to prevent cuts. But, equally, we need to have a police force that is fit for the future. We have got to keep innovating, we have to make sure that we are finding the right ways to fight and prevent crime to keep our region safe.

“So there are new initiatives that we want to be able to run like an anti-social behaviour task force across the region and like the reopening of some police stations that have been closed to the public due to the austerity we have experienced here."