A LACK of cash this year will not result in less police officers pounding the beat in North Somerset, according to Avon and Somerset Police Authority.

A LACK of cash this year will not result in less police officers pounding the beat in North Somerset, according to Avon and Somerset Police Authority.

The body made the announcement after it set this year's precept at a meeting last night (Weds).

Taxpayers are faced with an almost five per cent increase in their bill from the police this year.

This means that a Band D property will pay £154.32, up £7.15 from last year.

The authority's chairman, Dr Moira Hamlin, said: "We have worked hard on this year's budget to ensure the financial impact on our communities, through the police part of the council tax, is kept to an absolute minimum while still ensuring the force not only maintains its good performance but also improves.

"To ensure a low increase of 4.86 per cent the Authority has had to make some hard decisions and scrutinise all areas of spending to ensure we are getting the best out of our resources.

"This includes finding over £2.8 million in savings and reductions which have allowed us to maintain frontline officer numbers and move forward with our workforce modernisation project to redeploy police officers that are currently in police staff jobs."