Personal press release: Police & Crime Panel - Budget 2026/2027
February 4, 2026ā¢596 words
Gloucestershire Police pledge more community engagement to restore trust
A Green councillor has won changes to the Gloucestershire Police budget so that engagement with the most deprived sections of the community is properly funded.
Cllr Gareth Kitchen, who represents Stroud District Council on the Gloucestershire Police & Crime Panel, successfully put forward a request to the panelās budget meeting on Monday (February 2) for more focus on genuine community engagement to improve trust in policing.
Cllr Kitchen (Green, Wotton-under-Edge) says that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissionerās budget allocated for working with communities has decreased year on year. This is despite three consecutive years when the force has requested the maximum allowed increase in the council tax precept for its overall budget ā with this year the force asking for more than the maximum increase allowed.
He believes that the police need to tackle perceived unfairness in the way they treat the public, with statistics showing that the police are more likely to stop and search, arrest, charge ā or use physical force on - members of some communities.
Cllr Kitchen said: āUnderārepresented segments of our community have long been left behind and are disproportionately affected by policing outcomes.Trust in policing is in tatters, even amongst school children.
āThe ongoing reductions in community engagement due to cost savings ā combined with precept increases - mean that residents in some of our most deprived wards are once again being asked to pay a premium to be overāpoliced.ā
Cllr Kitchen said Gloucestershire Police is not alone in this ādisproportionalityā, which isnāt even performance monitored. āThe issue has become entrenched, part of the ābusinessāasāusualā culture. While I sympathise about the Constabulary's financial situation, I felt compelled to call out this entrenched and deeply troubling inequity, which undermines the Constabularyās legitimacy.ā
He added: āGloucestershire Police claims to be an anti-discriminatory organisation, committed to addressing systemic inequalities, disadvantage and discrimination. Though I have the utmost respect for the team at the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner, they need to show they take these commitments seriously by tackling these issues through genuine community engagement.ā
The budget discussed on Monday requested an increase of Ā£18.50 in the Council Tax precept - a 5.74% increase in council tax for Band D residents. This is higher than the Ā£15 increase technically allowed without having to have a referendum.
The police say that even with this increase, there will be a shortfall in funding and they will need to make further savings by cutting staff and services.
Cllr Kitchen said he felt so strongly on the subject that he was considering vetoing the budget, however dialogue with other panel members resulted in an explicit recommendation.
Thanks to Cllr Kitchenās request, the police will give much more attention to addressing perceived unfairness in the way policing is done, with an unspecified amount going to improved performance monitoring to spotlight the disproportionality.
He pointed out that such inherent unfairness is not unique to the police budget but is also reflected in the way council tax is charged. A parliamentary committee report last year highlighted how council tax unfairly puts the biggest strain on some of the most deprived residents. Residents receive fewer services while paying more in tax, said the report.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Clips of Cllr Kitchen speaking at the panel meeting can be seen here:
https://listed.to/@eco_g/69870/video-clips-police-crime-panel-february-2026
Details about Mondayās budget meeting are here:
https://gloucestershire.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=12193&x=1
The parliamentary committee report about council tax can be seen here:
Gloucestershire Constabulary data regarding Stop & Search, Use of Force etc. here: