HAMPSHIRE Police is “at very significant risk” because of Government budget cuts, an adviser to the force has warned.

“Draconian” cuts have been forced, in part, by unfair funding rules that took £10million from the constabulary and handed it to other areas, a letter to MPs protests.

It warns that neighbourhood policing could disappear from Hampshire if the cuts continue — “leaving only response to 999 and major incidents”.

The letter, sent by the little-known Force Strategic Independent Advisory Group, calls on county MPs to join a campaign to stem the cuts.

The author is the group’s chairman Hugh Oliver-Bellasis, who lives in Wootton St Law-rence and is a former director of The Manydown Company.

He writes that Hampshire Constabulary is unable to make the case alone because it “would be accused of whingeing”.

Hampshire Constabulary will suffer a £10m cut in 2015-16 — down almost six per cent on this year in real terms. The money has been handed to “other forces in England and Wales”, said Mr Oliver-Bellasis.

In the letter, Mr Oliver-Bellasis describes his group as a “critical friend” of the Hampshire force, put together to give its “wealth of experience” on a range of key issues.

It protests that cuts to the ‘police main grant’ (PMG) have taken no account of the quality of any individual force, penalising Hampshire, which is rated very highly.

Mr Oliver-Bellasis accuses Home Secretary Theresa May of turning a blind eye to the growing crisis – even ignoring Simon Hayes, Hampshire’s Police and Crime ommissioner.

The letter states: “The situation is such that HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] may well only realise the error of these cuts when there is a serious incident, where the police do not respond as is expected of them and are then blamed.”

All the county’s MPs are urged to attend a meeting with Mr Hayes on Tuesday, January 20, when the impact of the cuts will be discussed.

John Apter, chairman of Hampshire Police Federation, has also denounced the fresh cuts, warning that the force is already “on its knees”.

He said: “I simply don’t know how the force can make any more cuts without a significant impact on the work that we do.

“Already, we are making far more responses over the telephone, without a police officer attending calls, and officers are travelling further when they do respond.

“There’s absolutely no meat on the bone, because we will have lost almost 1,000 officers by 2016.

“The chief constable and the police and crime commissioner need to be realistic and tell us what we should no longer do.”