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Warwickshire police are to ask the government for millions of pounds of extra funding to cover the cost of the continuing investigation into the Atherstone-on-Stour warehouse fire.
According to a report in the Coventry Telegraph, police chiefs are becoming concerned about the growing cost of the investigation, which is threatening the police force’s already tight finances. With costs increasing from the GB pound 2 million estimated for the first few weeks of the complex investigation, it is likely to make a dent in the force’s GB pound 80 million annual budget.
In another move, the government is considering whether to cap the proposed 12.87% increase in the police force’s part of Warwickshire’s 2008/9 council tax. According to Warwickshire Police, the increase equates to a total increase of GB pound 18.78 over the year for the average Band D household in Warwickshire, an extra GB pound 1.56 a month or 5p per day.
“We are disappointed about the latest announcement by the government,” said
police authority chair Philip Blundell. “They have called our budget in to look at it in more detail and there is the possibility they may decide to place a cap on it.”