FEWER police officers could be on the beat in north Wiltshire as a result of a £3 million cut to the force’s budget.

Wiltshire Police’s Chief Constable Pat Geenty said he will “need to make difficult but necessary decisions” following the news that the government will reduce the constabulary’s budget by 5.1 per cent.

He said: “By 2017, Wiltshire Police will have lost 25 per cent of its budget, whilst facing increasing demand for services.

“We have reduced staff numbers and reorganised and transformed the way in which we work in order to minimise the impact of the cuts on the delivery of frontline services to the public.

“However, it is clear to me that in the face of these new reductions, I will have to explore all options in order to continue to protect the public of Wiltshire, in the knowledge that we will have between £3million and £4million to save during 2015/16 dependent on the commissioner’s decision further to consultation on the police element of council tax in the new year.”

The Chief Constable added: “Wiltshire Police will need to be courageous, ambitious and above all innovative in order to meet these savings targets.

“We will continue with our programme of transformation which demands that we think in radical new ways about the future model of policing in Wiltshire – and this will at times mean we will need to make difficult but necessary decisions.”

The government has decided to reduce its funding to police forces across the UK by £299million in the next year.

Mr Geenty said most forces would prefer that money the government intends to spend on the Independent Police Complaints Commission was used for frontline policing.

Martin Surl, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, has already said that there will be less officers on the beat in his county due to budget cutbacks, and it is feared Wiltshire will experience the same reduction.

The announcement of budget cuts follows the news that popular Malmesbury Neighbourhood Policing Team leader Sergeant Martin Alvis is leaving the area.

He will be moving to Melksham to be a custody sergeant next month and said he is sad to leave Malmesbury, where he has helped reduce crime.

It is not yet known who will replace Sgt Alvis, but there are fears there could be a rise in crime as a result of his departure and the budget cutbacks.

Wiltshire Councillor for Malmesbury, Simon Killane, said that he was sad to see Sgt Alvis leave as he would miss the way he engaged with the public.

Cllr Killane said Sgt Alvis had been “fantastic” for Malmesbury.

He added: “Community policing and the way policing has been working in Malmesbury is brilliant and I think that it is the future of policing.

“That kind of thing needs to be protected whatever happens.”