Police chief wants extra sports and cultural event security cash

The cost of security at concerts and sporting matches in Cardiff and Swansea has gone up 50% in the last year, according to a police chief.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium hosted Coldplay, Justin Bieber and football's Champions League final after terrorist attacks in London and Manchester.

Matt Jukes, South Wales Police's chief constable, said the force needed extra cash to cover increased policing costs.

The Home Office said police funding for England and Wales would rise next year.

It will go up by up to £450m, and around £270m will go directly to forces to spend on local priorities, it said.

South Wales Police looks after about 200 major events a year, including Welsh rugby internationals and gigs such as last year's Take That concert at Swansea's Liberty Stadium.

But the force said there was an extra "multi-million" cost because of the increased UK terror threat level.

While venues pay South Wales Police for policing inside, it does not cover the extra policing needed to deal with the impact on the streets outside.

Mr Jukes said the attacks in Manchester and London last year - plus the shooting at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris in 2015 - had been "real game changers" for the force, adding the additional cost, including armed officers, was becoming a "real challenge".

"We're now talking about multi-million pound costs for us every year in terms of tackling those issues," he said.

"It's a real challenge, it's a privilege but we're policing 200 major events ever year."

South Wales Police received extra funds for policing the 2017 Champions League final as 2,000 extra officers were deployed across Cardiff as Real Madrid played Juventus.

But the force gets no extra funding for putting on increased security at gigs such as Ed Sheeran and the Rolling Stones, who will play at the Principality Stadium this summer.

The UK's current threat level is severe and Cardiff council's leader said the Home Office needed to recognise security costs had risen.

"I think there needs to be a recognition of the additional cost," said councillor Huw Thomas.

"The additional burden falls on the police and indeed on the council as well to police and to safeguard and to deliver major events in Cardiff.

"The message needs to go to the Home Office first and foremost, recognising that there are less police officers serving today than there were 40 years ago despite the increased threat of terrorism," he added.

A former Principality Stadium manager and Ch Insp of South Wales Police said while venues paid for policing at events, there was no extra cash for the force to deal with the impact on the streets.

Gerry Toms said the issue was not confined to Cardiff but affected the whole of Wales, where major events are staged, such as the Royal Welsh Show and the National Eisteddfod.

"The world has changed and the police budget hasn't," he told BBC Radio Wales, adding: "The threat of terrorism is not a threat anymore, it is a reality."

The Home Office said in 2018/19, the budget for England and Wales would increase by £50m to £757m "to help deal with the fast-changing and increasingly challenging threat from terrorism".

It added a rise in funding from council tax through the policing precept - a special levy - along with a protected grant the government pays forces means South Wales Police's direct funding would increase by around £8m in 2018/19.