THE Government today attempted to put a positive spin on the police grant handed to North Yorkshire for next year.

The Home Office came under fire two months ago for awarding the county's police authority a preliminary increase of only three per cent - the lowest in the country.

Police Minister John Denham today confirmed this increase - which takes the total grant to £70.4million - would stand.

But he softened the blow by announcing the force would receive an extra £4.45 million in special grants. This cash will come from funding pots to recruit new officers, introduce the new "airwave" radio system, fight rural crime and implement the police reform package. Mr Denham: "We expect a return for our significant investment in policing.

"We are determined to improve performance and raise standards of all forces to those of the best, which is what the public rightly expects.

"In the first National Policing Plan we have provided a framework for developing local policing plans that deliver shared objectives to a consistently high standard."

Under the plan, North Yorkshire has been asked to make street crime, burglary, drugs, loutish behaviour and car crime their top priorities.

Ministers have insisted each priority listed in the plan must be reflected in the force's three-year local plan.

Updated: 11:15 Thursday, February 06, 2003