PEOPLE in York and Selby are not getting a fair share of police resources to tackle crime in the area, councillors are set to tell North Yorkshire's chief constable.

York councillors are "deeply concerned" that the force's Central Area, which covers York and Selby, has 44 per cent of the county's recorded crime but gets only 32 per cent of its funding.

They have been reviewing police funding, crime levels, community rangers, crime and disorder partnerships and other crime-fighting resources to draw up a draft report on the issue.

The final report will be presented to Coun Bob Scrase, the executive member for community, economic development, and commercial services, and his advisory panel, and sent to North Yorkshire Police's Chief Constable Della Cannings, and to the police authority.

The widely-held concern that York and Selby were missing out on policing resources was first raised by Lib Dem councillor Steve Galloway.

Crime figures examined by the board showed overall crime in York was 15.6 per cent higher for the period between April 2002 and January 2003 compared to the same period for 2001/02.

Members have discussed a funding formula, that was proposed to North Yorkshire Police Authority, which would take into account call handling, crime, road policing, public order, community policing and patrol, in an effort to ensure the needs of both rural and urban areas were met.

In 2001, the force's Eastern Area was given £16 million of the budget, Western Area, 15.3 million and Central Area, £14.7 million.

This allocation was based on the position following a boundary and structure review in 1998 when the number of officers was equally split between the three areas.

Since then it has been shown that the workloads in the areas are not equal, and a number of major incidents, such as the Selby rail crash and floods, have been concentrated in Central Area.

Under the new formula, where reported crime would be most important factor, Eastern Area would get £15.1 million of the budget, Western Area, £14.5 million, and Central Area, £16.5 million.

The board is set to meet on Tuesday, March 11, to finalise the report.

Updated: 10:42 Monday, March 03, 2003