HOUSEHOLDS across Devon will be asked to chip in more money to pay for police services in the coming year – and for the first time people with second homes in holiday hotspots will be expected to pull their weight too.

The county’s Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez will set out her plans for the coming year at an upcoming meeting of the Police and Crime Panel in Plymouth.

Her area covers Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and she says she plans to use an extra tax on second homes towards expanding street patrols to combat anti-social behaviour.

The charge on second-home owners, most of them from outside the West Country, will raise an extra £6 million a year for policing.

For the first time this year, they will pay double council tax bills as a way for local councils to ensure well-heeled property owners pay their share for the services they use while on holiday in the South West.

PCC Hernandez said: “This windfall, and the fact we have one of the highest proportions of second homes in the country, presents an opportunity to invest in the types of policing that are right for residents and visitors.

“I am confident that the public I represent think this is the right approach too, as 67 per cent of those questioned supported the principle of this windfall being used to fund more police on the streets.”

The commissioner will soon set out a 4.99 per cent increase of £13.70 per household per year in the share of the council tax bill that goes towards the police.

For a band D property that means the amount going towards police services rising from £274.50 to £288.20. That money will be added to the “precepts” which go from households to local councils and the fire service.

Guy Henderson