COST OF FAILED POLICE MERGER (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

COST OF FAILED POLICE MERGER

September 19, 2006 9:25 PM

COST OF FAILED POLICE MERGER

£100,000 wasted in West Yorkshire

It has been announced that West Yorkshire Police had to spend in excess of £100,000 in preparation for the failed merger of Yorkshire and Humber Police Authorities (1).

The Liberal Democrat Group in Kirklees is furious that this money has been wasted and that the tax payers are being be left to foot the bill.

Cllr Tony Woodhead (Lib Dem Representative on the West Yorkshire Police Authority Board) said: "The waste of £100,000 is particularly unwelcome in West Yorkshire. The authority currently sits at the bottom of the Government's funding league and has had to take some serious decisions to balance the budget (2). What it did not need is a bill for £100,000 diverting cash away from key areas with no product at the end. The money would have been better spent paying for more police on the streets or buying in equipment or training".

Cllr Woodhead said: "The Government has agreed to reimburse the authority for its losses, but this is a cost which will ultimately fall on the tax payer which I feel is unfair. Public money is hard earned and its waste is incredibly frustrating especially when it is seen to have been spent on unnecessary tinkering with structures and bureaucracies like in this case. "

Cllr Woodhead concluded: "There was no or little support for this merger from the start. It was almost universally unpopular on the doorstep, with all the political leaders and the police themselves. It was a top down exercise central government were trying to impose on everyone beneath them and I am relieved that our message finally got through and it is now dead in the water."

Cllr Woodhead added: "We will have to vigilant in the future as I am certain it has not disappeared from the Government's agenda permanently".