GREEN councillors have tonight called on Oxfordshire County Council to support police chiefs in a battle with the Government over funding.

They are set to put a motion to the local authority next month backing a legal challenge that police and crime commissioners (PCCs) could launch against the Home Office.

It is over fears that a new funding formula will cut millions from their budgets and force them to reduce the number of officers on patrol. 

Anthony Stansfeld, the PCC for the Thames Valley, was one of seven PCCs to warn the Home Office about the reforms two weeks ago.

And tonight Oxfordshire Green Party group leader David Williams said the PCCs were "acting in the best interests of our communities".

He added that if the cuts were put in place "the normal features of policing that the public expect... will be damaged or will disappear altogether".

Mr Williams said: "Current suggestions about the type of cuts which may take place include not necessarily sending officers out to investigate burglaries, reducing the numbers of police community support officers who provide ‘eyes on the ground’ for the Thames Valley Police and shutting down important specialist units which could mean those dealing with child sexual abuse and rape.

“We are not a poor country. But we do have a an inadequate range of taxes which are not supporting essential services properly.

"We urge the public to write to their county councillors and call upon them to support the police and crime commissioners, or be prepared for radical and avoidable cuts in policing in their own area.”

The party is expected to put forward its motion at the next full meeting of the county council, on December 8 at County Hall, Oxford.