Residents in the Thames Valley may find their Council Tax bill increasing for the second consecutive year as the Police battle to make up for further budget cuts.

Over the last eight years, Thames Valley Police have seen a cut of £101m to their budget.

Now Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfield has proposed a raise in council tax for the second consecutive year as the force try to cope with increasing operational costs.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid unveiled the Provisional Police Funding Settlement in December. Within the settlement it was announced that a further £813 million would be available to Police and Crime Commissioners if they agreed to raise council tax on average by a further £24 in 2019/20.

Currently 43 per cent of police funding comes from council tax, with the remaining 57 per cent coming from central Government grants.

Average council tax bills were raised last year by £12 to help manage budget cuts. A public consultation was held before the change was implemented with 4,723 out of 5,600 people (84.3%) supporting the increase.

Commissioner Anthony Stansfield defended a further increase, saying: “Demand on police forces nationally has risen significantly in the last year as a result of higher crime numbers, the increasing complexity of crim, and the increasing reach of criminals both physically and via technology.

“In addition to the police are dealing with a large amount of a large amount of non-crime business, especially in relation to mental health.

“My focus will continue to be on delivering strong neighbourhood policing for all the communities across the Thames Valley whilst addressing the serious threats and hardship posed by criminals operating in, or out of Thames Valley on our communities.”

A new consultation is currently online offering people the chance to voice their opinions on the prospective change.

Residents have until Wednesday to complete the survey, which can be found on http://sgiz.eu/s3/Policing-budget-council-tax-2019-20