A DISTRICT councillor has pledged to press for a rise in the police budget and officer numbers after being selected for Gloucestershire Police and Crime panel.

Cllr Ray Brassington, Cirencester Four Acres ward member on Cotswold District Council (CDC), was one of 16 councillors and two independent members to be selected for the panel earlier this year.

The panel intends to provide a check and balance to Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl and to both review and scrutinise his actions and decisions.

“At the meeting in July, the commissioner told us that his budget has been cut by £30m over the last six years, which has resulted in a loss of nearly 300 officers,” said Cllr Brassington.

“Which meant the front line was now ‘very very thin’.

“At the same time, crime was up, particularly violent crime as well as stalking, slavery and sexual assault.”

But Cllr Brassington said Home Secretary Amber Rudd was “oblivious to this” when questioned by reporters at a visit to Stroud Police Station last month.

“The Home Secretary says she is determined to support officers; seems a strange way of supporting them.

“A police officer, no matter how efficient he or she is, can only be in one place at a time.

“It does not take a genius to relate that a fall in numbers will usually equate to a rise in crime,” he said.

He went on to pledge: “As a member of the panel I shall do my utmost to support the commissioner and press for a rise in his budget and police numbers.”

Cllr Brassington said he will also be contacting Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown about the issue.

"With the ever-increasing threat of terrorism we need more police officers not less, when will the government wake up to this?” he added.

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel is November 8 at 10am at Shire Hall in Gloucester, and is open to the public.