WILTSHIRE Police has ‘consciously uncoupled’ from Wiltshire Council as plans to stop sharing IT services were announced.

Wiltshire Council had been providing Wiltshire Police a shared ICT service since 2014. However as the force begins to use more specialist national systems the partnership has come to an end.

Cllr Tony Jackson believes it is the right time to cut ties with he force.

He said: “This is an extremely sound move. I think to anticipate in ten years time we will ave 43 police forces is not something i think is sensible the sooner we split from Wiltshire Police the better.”

But others disagreed and Council leader Philip Whitehead added: “It has been extremely successful partnership into he past we are now into conscious uncouple it to pull it apart not through wither party. This has come about through national changes in terms of the security the police must operate to which does not suit us.”

A project team must now be brought in to unlink the two authorities, five years after they came together.

Leader of the opposition Ian Thorn: “I think this has been a fantastic and symbiotic relationship for the people of Wiltshire and I think it is a sad day but ultimately we have to go our separate ways.”

Wiltshire Council was subjected to numerous cyber attacks in the months following the Salisbury Novichok nerve agent attack.

Following a parliamentary meeting at the start of the month, executive director, Alistair Cunningham said council staff had to remove Bluetooth devices and mobile phones during council meetings. He said: “As soon as we hit the headlines, the number of cyber attacks on our system increased tenfold.”

The IT systems of Wiltshire Police also came under attack because they use the computer resources of the local administration, he said.