BOURNEMOUTH councillor Nick King is to stand as the Conservative candidate in the election for a new police commissioner in Dorset.

Cllr King was selected by a meeting of 250 Tory party members at the Allendale Centre in Wimborne yesterday.

He beat off the challenge of two rivals, Dorset County Council leader Cllr Angus Campbell and crown prosecutor Tim O’Sullivan.

Afterwards he said: “I am delighted. My campaign starts tomorrow and I aim to get out and meet as many people as possible in the next few months so they realise just how important this is.”

The Police and Crime Commissioner role is being intro- duced across the UK to replace to current, largely anonymous, police authorities. The Commissioner will set the strategic policing priorities, hold the chief constable to account, work with a variety of other agencies and oversee a multi-million pound policing budget.

The elections are in November, although so far the PCC idea, put forward by the coalition government, has failed to spark much public interest.

Cllr King added: “The people of Dorset will have a directly elected, high profile figure they can go to if they want to influence how the budget is spent and what the policing priorities are. And that person will be democratically accountable to them.

“If I am elected, I hope to make a big difference and see a much greater partnership between the police and the public.”

Cllr King represents Littledown ward on Bournemouth Borough Council and came second to Annette Brooke in the Mid Dorset parliamentary seat in 2010.

Other declared candidates for the post are Martyn Underhill Independent, and Rachel Rogers, for Labour.

It’s not yet known how many other party and independent candidates will stand for the PCC job in Dorset.