Norfolk pays Bacton security costs
policing levels at Bacton gas terminal will be maintained, Norfolk Police Authority has pledged, despite government funding being slashed. But the £732,000 annual cost of supplementing Ministry of Defence patrols with an armed police presence at the crucial energy facility will have to come directly out of Norfolk tax payers' pockets.
policing levels at Bacton gas terminal will be maintained, Norfolk Police Authority has pledged, despite government funding being slashed.
But the £732,000 annual cost of supplementing Ministry of Defence patrols with an armed police presence at the crucial energy facility will have to come directly out of Norfolk tax payers' pockets.
Authority bosses said covering the cost would amount to a 1.5pc increase in this year's council tax precept.
They are now looking at up to a 9pc overall increase in their share of the council tax bill. That would equate to an extra 29p per week for the average band D property.
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Authority chairman, Stephen Bett, said: “The people in that area can rest assured that we will carry on policing in that area in the same way as we always have done.”
The authority learned last Wednesday that the Home Office will be severing all the funding it currently receives to police the Bacton terminal.
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The funding not only paid for highly trained armed police protection at Bacton but also a control unit at North Walsham able to provide an immediate response to any threats.
An application to make a 130-space car park at Bacton Gas Terminal permanent has been approved by North Norfolk District Council.
A number of conditions will apply including restrictions on the hours it can be used and an undertaking by Shell to care for the adjoining Seagulls Field and plant trees there.
A petition against the plan received 255 signatures and 19 letters of objection were sent to the district council citing disturbance, the gradual encroachment of the site, loss of wildlife habitat and intrusion into the countryside as reasons.
