POLICE chiefs in North Yorkshire are set to back plans for a new UK-wide airborne service to fight crime.

Helicopters run by forces across England and Wales are to be merged into a single National Police Air Service (NPAS) in a move intended to save more than £15 million off the bill for policing from the air.

The new service would see the number of aircraft operated by police reduced from 31 to 23 across 20 bases.

However, the Association of Chief Police Officers has said the new service will provide 24-hour cover for 97 per cent of the population.

North Yorkshire Police Authority will next week agree “in principle” to support the NPAS plan after hearing it would give them a better service and see them pay £4,000-a-year less for air support.

North Yorkshire Police does not have a helicopter and calls in help from neighbouring forces, usually West Yorkshire and Cleveland, when it needs help with incidents and searches.

Wakefield, which is 13 minutes’ flying time from York, is currently the nearest base to North Yorkshire where police aircraft are housed, and this would continue under the NPAS arrangements as they stand.

Temporary assistant chief constable Iain Spittal and temporary superintendent Aubrey Smith, writing in a report to go before NYPA next week, said: “The benefits for North Yorkshire Police of this service would be enhanced effectiveness and efficiency to service provision, improving air support coverage and response times across the force area together with initial savings of approximately £4,000 per annum.

“The NPAS model aspires to provide a 24/7, single and cost-effective solution to provision of police air support.”

But the report also said some forces had “understandable concerns about any possible reduction in service as a result of the new scheme.

North Yorkshire Police has also raised concerns over costs and the areas which would be covered.

It said more detail, including a full business case, would emerge before the force decided whether to formally commit to the NPAS proposals.

A national roll-out of the scheme is scheduled to begin next April, with any new arrangements for North Yorkshire coming into force in about a year’s time.