CANDIDATES standing for election as Avon and Somerset's first police and crime commissioner should stage a hustings event in West Somerset, it was claimed this week.

Williton Parish Council chairman Cllr Robert McDonald told the Free Press this week that he had "terrible concerns" that people had little or no knowledge about the people putting themselves forward for the job or the job itself.

Avon and Somerset is one of 37 forces in England who will be headed up by a police and crime commissioner for the first time following elections on November 15.

The four candidates are the former Conservative leader of Somerset County Council Ken Maddock, Liberal Democrat Pete Levy, Sue Mountstevens, who is standing as an Independent and John Savage for Labour.

They will be addressing a meeting at the Somerset Cricket Ground in Taunton on November 6 which Cllr McDonald is planning to attend.

But he said he believed the candidates should come "out to the people" so local communities could hear their views firsthand.

"The only candidate I have heard of is Ken Maddock and I don't actually know him," said Cllr McDonald.

"I am going to the Taunton meeting in my parish council capacity but I think it is unacceptable that we don't have at least one meeting in West Somerset.

"These commissioners are going to have a lot of power - they'll have the right to hire and fire chief constables and they'll be setting budgets.

"They'll also be very well paid and yet most people seem to know very little about the job.

"I think the whole thing has been too rushed and I feel very uneasy about it.

"The Government is expecting ordinary members of the public to put a cross in a box for someone who they know very little, if anything, about."

Commissioners will replace the current police authorities but they will be held to account by a newly formed police and crime panel, which will include a mix of councillors and independent members.

The Home Office has said that the role of police and crime commissioners will be as a voice for people, to lead the fight against crime and to be held to account if they fail to deliver.