The Leader of the Conservative Group on the Isle of Wight Council and the Island’s MP are working closely together to highlight the importance of the Hampshire Marine Policing Unit which polices the Solent and surrounding seaways.
Both Cllr Dave Stewart (Conservative, Chale, Niton and Whitwell) – who is Chair of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Panel (PCP) – and Andrew Turner MP are lobbying hard to see if the future of the Unit can be secured as the funding of police forces in England and Wales is reviewed.
Speaking today, Mr Turner said:
“The Government is right to review the central formula for allocating funds to individual police forces. The model at the heart of these arrangements, the Police Allocation Formula, is complex, opaque and out of date. It relies on inadequate data some of which is not even collected any more.
“What we must ensure is that under any new system due priority is given by local authorities, in our case the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Councils and the Police and Crime Commissioner, to the special circumstances of our local need to police the Solent and surrounding waters. This is a matter of both national and local security.”
Cllr Dave Stewart has also said:
“Funding for every aspect of the police is currently under review, and the possibility of cutting the Marine Unit is one option being considered as part of that exercise.
“The case I’m making is that the Solent is the busiest seaway in the world. It is the access to our Royal Navy’s home port of Portsmouth, one of the greatest cruise centres in Europe, and a leisure facility used by tens of thousands of sailors and power-boaters. It’s essential that our local waters are protected by the Marine Policing Unit, not least because of the potential threat to Island ferry services, and high profile events like Cowes Week and the Round the Island Race.”
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Andrew added:
“Everybody knows that money is tight for the police as with every other public service. As Vice Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, I will be liaising with colleagues across the area to encourage their support for the Unit in dialogue with local authorities, the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Home Office.
“I’m pleased to be working with Cllr Stewart to highlight the strategic importance of ensuring that the waters around our Island are properly protected.”
