A fresh bid has been made by Devon’s police to secure vital cash linked directly to a planning application.

Devon & Cornwall Police requested over £3,500 from East Devon District Council to fund police cars and equipment.

The request is the first the force has made to East Devon; however, other requests have been made to other councils in Devon and Cornwall.

The approach to East Devon is linked to a proposal for up to 75 homes on land near Exmouth’s Hulham Road and King’s Garden Centre.

If the force’s bid is approved, the cash would come from the so-called Community Infrastructure Levy, or CIL, a pot which developers contribute to in order to help fund the likes of healthcare and education provision near to the new homes.

Devon & Cornwall Police said it was “instrumental” in achieving recent changes to national planning policy that secured an easier route for blue-light services to secure funding linked to housing developments.

The force said new housing puts pressure on various services, such as schools, GPs, and open spaces, but it also weighs on police resources.

“Police infrastructure is no exception and it should be treated no differently when it comes to CIL,” a force spokesperson said.

“There is a common misconception about police funding that assumes that because there will be more houses, there will be more people paying a council tax precept, and that the police will be funded to cater for growth in that way.

“That assumption is plain wrong, however, because it is based on a misunderstanding about how the police in the UK are funded.”

The police’s precept – its portion of council tax – only funds the day-to-day costs of the police force, but does not cover the likes of new police stations, cars, IT equipment, and other items the police need to carry out their duties.

The force said it had secured more than £500,000 from one large housing development in Cornwall; however, the funding would flow to the organisation over a number of years.

Out of the total £3,363 requested from the Exmouth application, the force said £2,764 would contribute towards equipment that extra officers would need, while £599 would go towards new police cars.

A spokesperson for East Devon District Council said it had advised the police to bid for CIL funding from the council.

It said the force had initially requested the cash from Section 106 contributions, which are also paid for by developers but which are generally used to secure infrastructure on the development site itself, such as an area of public open space or affordable housing.

“The police would need to bid for this through our next available round of CIL funding because it would not be appropriate for us to seek S106 funding for something that we have expressly said in our Infrastructure Funding Statement is covered under CIL, since the developer would effectively end up paying twice if we did so,” the spokesperson added.

The force said central government policy and legal case law now recognised that police forces were “entitled to seek funding for any police infrastructure “properly needed as a result of new development.

“Devon & Cornwall Police would not be serving the people of Devon and Cornwall were we not seeking the funding that we are entitled to,” the spokesperson added.