A POLICE chief says he is committed to getting more bobbies on the beat after an inflation-busting 4.9 per cent rise in government cash.

Lancashire Constabulary's annual allocation from central government has risen from £168.8million to £177.1million for the 2003/4 financial year.

In addition, Lancashire will receive another £442,000 from the Street Crime Resource Allocation, and an extra £60,000 to help fund rural policing in the county.

The extra cash is above the national average, but Chief Constable Paul Stephenson today warned that the police's share of council tax would have to rise just to maintain existing levels of service.

He said: "We are pleased that the funding increase has turned out to be better than expected.

"Our increase is at the top end of the range of increases given to police authorities and is welcomed when you consider the majority of shire authorities will only receive three per cent.

"However, even with the efficiency savings we will be making, it is not sufficient to cover unavoidable cost increases such as pensions, national insurance the reforms of police pay.

"This means that we will have a real challenge in maintaining existing levels of service without a significant increase in council tax.

"Despite these difficulties, our ambition to increase the number of officers engaged on front-line policing remains. We will, therefore, be working closely with the police authority to achieve this."

Dr Ruth Henig, chairman of Lancashire Police Authority, said: "We still face some hard decisions on next year's budget. We have already been consulting widely with the people of Lancashire about the balance between council tax increases and police spending.

"We will take all these views into account when we make a final decision."

In this year's council tax bills, £73.86 from every Band D property has gone to the police, roughly £1.40 a week. Lancashire's council tax contribution to the police is 20 per cent below the national average.

The Police Authority has already indicated that they could need an extra £25 per home to maintain policing levels and tackle new threats, such the higher risk of terrorism.

Last week, Lancashire County Council warned that its low settlement from the government could push council tax up by 13.3 per cent.

Last year, Lancashire County Council charged £858 for an average Band D house bill. That could now rise to £952, and rise to £1,052.85 if the police demand the extra as well. Borough councils have yet to set their levy.

The only exception is in Blackburn with Darwen, which, as a unitary authority, sets one council tax sum which combines both the district council levy and the county council charge. It would still have to add the same amount from the police to its final figure.