Shropshire’s police force has had its funding cut by nearly £15 million for the next year alone.

Chiefs at West Mercia Police Authority set its budget of £205.6 million for 2011/12 yesterday – leaving the force with a £14.7 million shortfall.

The new budget means the force authority will see a 17 per cent cut in “core” Government funding over the next four years. The policing element of the council tax was not increased.

Sheila Blagg, chairman of West Mercia Police Authority, today warned difficult decisions would have to be made.

She said reserves would have to be used to make up the shortfall but that cash was only available once.

The authority boss said the impact on the service provided for residents in West Mercia would be “minimised” by the use of the reserve cash, compared to other forces.

She added: “We set the budget for the best possible level of service in the context of the assessment of the financial situation over the next four years.

“Using some of our reserves means that we can achieve a more measured ‘downsizing,’ so the impact on policing services in 2011/12 will be minimised by comparison with many other forces.”

The £14.7 million funding gap in 2011/12 was being met through “restricting recruitment, cash savings, a thorough root-and-branch review of the force and the use of reserves,” said Mrs Blagg.

Warning of the difficult times ahead, she added: “Reserves can only be used once.

“That is why we are looking at other ways of working in order to continue to provide high quality services.

“We are committed to cost savings, wherever they can be found and have important collaboration arrangements with other forces – for example we already share air support and motorway patrol.

“We are also committing ourselves to a potential significant pooling of resources with Warwickshire to make further efficiencies.

“We believe Warwickshire has a similar culture and is facing similar policing demands to ourselves which means that savings can be more quickly realised,” said Mrs Blagg.

Last month, authority bosses revealed they wanted to team up with Warwickshire Police in a bid to cut the budget by £34 million over the next four years.

But Chief Constable Paul West said a merger between the two forces was not an option.

A joint blueprint with recommendations will be presented to both forces and authorities by the end of May.

In December, it was warned that job losses were “inevitable” for the 4,100 workforce in West Mercia due to the funding cuts.

By Kirsty Smallman