Essex Police have been criticised for coming up with a new set of policing promises despite the last ones being scrapped due to costs.

The Policing Pledge was scrapped by the Government last June despite costing £3.5million to promote.

It vowed to see victims of crime within an hour, prioritise neighbourhood problems and provide monthly updates on their progress.

Now the county’s force is launching the replacement Essex Police Service Standards.

Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It is worrying that after cutting expensive policing pledges and advertising, there are new versions being created.

“This will rack up big unnecessary bills for taxpayers, who want to see results, not spin.”

The new pledges aim to answer 999 calls within ten seconds, and try to get to the caller within 15 minutes in a town and 20 minutes in rural areas. On their non-emergency line, they promise to give an estimated time of arrival or make an appointment.

Claire Heath, head of customer services for Essex Police, said: “It is important the public are given guidelines about the service they can expect to receive when they contact us, and it’s equally important police officers and staff have clear instructions on the way we expect services to be delivered.

“We will continue to measure performance relating to our quality of service through satisfaction questionnaires, mystery shopping and compliance testing.”