Cheshire residents are being asked if they would stump up an extra couple of pounds a month towards the police precept to safeguard all 87 PCSOs across the county.

There was an angry backlash when Cheshire Police announced last month it planned to axe 60 police community support officers (PCSO) as part of a cost- cutting measure in a bid to save £13 million over the next four years.

The move would see warranted officers redeployed into local policing teams.

Police and crime commissioner (PCC) Dan Price recently announced he has managed to save 10 of those roles.

And today (Friday) Mr Price told a specially called meeting of the police and crime panel he hoped to be able to save all 87 PCSOs – with the help of the public.

Police and crime commissioner (PCC) Dan Price speaking to a Cheshire resident about policing. (Photo: Office of PCC)

"I have written to the government to request budget flexibility in the amount of the precept I propose to charge – this is the part of residents' council tax that is used to pay for policing," he said.

"This is an exceptional step. Only a handful of PCCs in England have been willing to do this.

"With this small level of flexibility, maybe less than the price of a takeaway coffee each month, I'm hoping to be able to save all 87 PCSOs in Cheshire."

The commissioner told the meeting that, after speaking to Cheshire commuters about what they would pay for policing 'the resounding response from the public was that they were prepared to pay a little bit extra to do more to help save our PCSOs, as well as put a further 21 officers into neighbourhoods'.

He said this would be possible by adding an extra £2.14 a month to the precept on a band B – about £25 a year.

Mr Price said the annual public consultation on how much residents are willing to pay for policing through their council tax is now live.

"The next two weeks are really important, and I would encourage the public to make their views known via the precept consultation, which will close on Friday, January 23," he said.

Earlier in the meeting at Crewe, members of the public and councillors spoke about the importance of PCSOs to local communities and urged Chief Constable Mark Roberts to scrap the redundancy plan.

Cheshire Chief Constable Mark Roberts. (Photo: Cheshire Police)

Congleton town councillor Robert Douglas said: "With the recent increase in foot patrolling successfully reducing crime, it makes no sense to reverse that good work by reducing the number of PCSOs."

Cheshire East councillor Ben Wye (Lab) said: "I see PCSOs in all of the schools I work with and they're vital in supporting the idea of citizenship.

"We have many PCSOs in the town…

"I know them all by name. I honestly could not name a single warranted officer in Crewe."

Cllr Janet Clowes (CEC, Con) talked about the local knowledge and trust PCSOs had built up over the years.

"There are some things that cannot be bought, that cannot be paid for," she said.

"That knowledge is a resource that we lose at our peril."

The chief constable stressed he did not want to lose PCSOs and it was a 'financially driven decision' not a policy decision.

And he told the meeting that, last month, he was shocked to learn the force was to receive £3 million less in funding from the government than it had expected.

The chief constable urged everyone to back the commissioner's bid to increase funding because 'it may negate entirely the need to make PCSOs redundant or it may, hopefully, certainly reduce the numbers that are impacted upon'.

The public consultation can be found here https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/2026-27precept/