WEST Somerset villages don’t get the policing they pay for, ‘and see a policeman once in a blue moon’, a former district council leader said this week.

Cllr Anthony Trollope-Bellew, former West Somerset district council Conservative leader, told a Somerset West and Taunton authority virtual meeting last week that Somerset taxpayers were ‘subsiding the policing in Bristol and not getting a fair deal’.

Living in Crowcombe – his South Quantock ward includes numerous villages in the Quantock Hills – Cllr Trollope-Bellew criticised the amount of council tax Avon and Somerset Constabulary has claimed for the coming financial year.

The police force set its annual budget earlier in February, with police and crime commissioner Sue Mountstevens forced to accept a smaller rise in the council tax take than she originally wanted.

But Cllr Trollope-Bellew said the rise was still too high and too many of the police’s resources were being allocated to urban areas. He said: “If you look at the council tax that we take, it’s £167.88 [for a Band D property]. If you look at the police and crime commissioner, it’s £242.81.

“It really bugs me every year how much the police take and they don’t actually give us what we pay for. We are subsidising the policing in Bristol.”

Cllr Chris Booth said he sympathised with Cllr Trollope-Bellew’s concerns. He said: “We’ve had a bit of to and fro the last couple of weeks about the amount. If you think it’s high now, Sue Mountstevens wanted to raise it further – it would have been £15 extra on average for a Band D property.”

Ms Mountstevens’ original budget proposals, including a £15 rise for the average council tax bill, were vetoed by the Avon and Somerset police and crime panel – of which Mr Booth is a member – in early-February.

The amended proposals will see a rise of £13.39 for average ratepayers, with the remainder of the £15 being drawn from existing reserves.

The additional funding will help to fund an additional 70 police officers. Cllr Booth added: “Often we in Somerset feel that we don’t get quite the services that Bristol gets. But obviously there are elections in May and we shall see what happens with regards to that.”

Elections for a new police and crime commissioner will take place on May 6, having been delayed from May 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Mountstevens, who has been in the post since 2012, indicated in January that she would not be standing for a third term.