NEWLY appointed Cambridgeshire Police Commissioner Sir Graham Bright claims that he’s roughly 10 per cent cheaper than the police authority he replaced.

His budget, to be scrutinised by a Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel next Thursday, says his office will cost £866,000 in the coming year compared to £970,000 for running the defunct police authority.

Police authority members’ allowances and travel and training costs for last year of £267,000 are a thing of the past, he will tell the crime panel.

And he expects external audit costs to fall by £20,000 to £65,000 following the changed functions of policing Cambridgeshire.

But Sir Graham’s £866,000 budget does not include travel costs for the 13 strong police and crime scrutiny panel which is drawn mainly from local authorities across Cambridgeshire.

Sir Graham’s budget includes his own £70,000 salary, his deputy Brian Ashton’s £28,000 part time salary, and their collective £9,000 NH costs.

Sir Graham believes the pair will claim no more than £10,000 this coming year for “travel/conferences, etc” but there is a £39,000 upload in other staffing costs that include the chief executive and up to 10 staff.

Sir Graham’s £466,000 budget says the increase from last year is to allow for “increased capacity for new functions.”

There will also be £15,000 extra to find for other police commissioner staff costs to include training, recruitment, travel and additional employers’ pension costs.

Sir Graham also wants “other office and running expenses” to rise from £96,000 to £108,000 to allow for “corporate subscriptions, IT costs, custody visitors’ and accommodation costs”.

Sir Graham is proposing a 2 per cent rise in council tax to afford next year’s budget in which he expects to see 10 new officers recruited over and above what was planned.

“During the election campaign the public told the commissioner that they want to see officers out on the streets,” says a report to the crime panel.