THE chief constable of an under-fire police force has been called to appear before a council's influential scrutiny committee.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is trying to set up the meeting with Cleveland Police's Chief Constable Sean Price for next month following a community survey that showed a high proportion of residents had a fear of crime.

The authority said the call had also been prompted by worries about the force's rating, which placed it among the bottom five in the country.

The first baseline assessments, published by the Home Office, graded each force in 16 categories, ranking them excellent, good, fair or poor.

Cleveland was given six poor scores covering high-volume crimes such as car thefts and burglaries, hate crime, public reassurance, call handling and management.

Redcar and Cleveland committee chairman, Coun Keith Pudney, said: "We are looking to a full and frank exchange of views.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the council has great concerns over a number of issues. The number one concern is quite clearly the force's rating as the worst performing in the country.

"This is totally unacceptable for us, particularly when we have our own community safety targets to meet.

"The last detailed talks we had with Cleveland Police indicated that increased resources were to be provided for policing in the borough, but due to the force's well-publicised financial difficulties, we have not seen any evidence of that happening.

"What we want to know is when these resources will be available - and how they are going to provide them, given their current financial position."

The authority is also concerned over the 'significant' increase in the Cleveland Police component of the council tax and its own financial position.

A Cleveland Police spokesman denied the force had been singled out as the worst performing in the county. He said: "We are happy to speak to any local authority about policing issues in Cleveland and we are in the process of arranging such a meeting with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

"However, it should be pointed out that Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabularies has never created a league table.

"We were put in the bottom group of five to six forces and have not been rated as the worst in England."