I, and I am sure many others, noted the headline on February 16: Police to take £300 from Band D homes.

Most homes in Surrey are not in Band D, so most will be paying £500, £600, £800 or even more for a police service that is all but invisible to most.

Then, in the paper on March 2, we see all increases in the council tax for different sections  are around three per cent – except the police, which are having a 5.1 per cent increase! 

One must ask why the police require such a large increase when the scale of policing in Surrey has been cut to the bone. 

From having a local police station, closed some years ago, then police personnel on the beat disappeared – for Haslemere, the nearest police station was Godalming,  now we are lucky to have our nearest police station in Guildford. As things go, that will change and it will be even further away! 

I fully support the police and would like to see more locally, not miles away. I wonder why, with all the extra millions, they are a vanishing breed. 

Our PCC Lisa Townsend is, I am sure, a very able and competent person – but is she necessary? 

If we were to get rid of our PCC we would save around £1m a year which may have allowed the police to rise tax by the three per cent in line with others. We have MPs who could, collectively, oversee Surrey police at no, or very little cost. I am sure most residents wouldn’t notice if we had a PCC or not!

The Conservatives pledged to remove many quangos and decided some 262 could be cancelled. To date, just 52 have gone – and you can guess who invented the PCC quango. Yes, a Conservative government. 

Michael Edwards

Tennyson’s Ridge, Haslemere