Avon and Somerset Police will be able to recruit 70 more officers to crack down on serious sexual offences if households pay an extra £15 this year.

Chief constable Andy Marsh said the force would risk "losing momentum" without the council tax hike and promised that residents will notice a difference to policing.

Council tax bills also include payments to local authorities – most look set to increase their share by 4.99 per cent – plus fire authorities and town and parish councils.

Speaking to police and crime commissioner Sue Mountstevens on Facebook Live on February 2, Chief constable Marsh said: "A couple of years ago you [Ms Mountstevens] agreed to an increase and we employed an additional 100 police officers.

"It's difficult to say what would have happened without Covid but in the last year we've seen a big reduction in burglaries, 17 per cent. Through the duration of Operation Remedy we've seen almost a doubling of solved crimes, many more offenders arrested.

"We've seen a big improvement in satisfaction rates – it's over 86 per cent – we've seized a million pounds' worth of drugs and £720,000 of cash, and conducted 78,000 hours of visibly patrolling knife crime and crime hot spots with that capability."

A £15 increase would take the police's annual share of council tax to £240 for the average band D property. A decision will be made at the police and crime panel meeting on February 4.

Chief constable Marsh added: "If the precept is agreed, we will be able to bring forward recruitment of additional 70 officers.

"They will be deployed in a number of important areas – rape and serious sexual offences, sexual offences against children, including preventantive activity, but also in terms of managing offenders in communitites to ensure we minimise the risk of them committing further harm, trying to stop this revolving door of offending.

"I'm committed to making sure people notice a difference, because that's what they expect.

"If we don't secure the increase we won't be able to recruit those 70 officers this year, and my concern is that the momentum of the improvements to deliver the outstanding police services to prevent crime, to protect people – we risk losing that momentum.

"It's a really important moment for us."

Papers for the police and crime panel meeting say the £15 increase will allow the force to:

Increase officers numbers above the national target

Introduce new PCSO supervisor roles, offering career progression

Create a offender management hub in every local authority area, "increasing the cohort of offenders receiving intensive, multi-agency, 360 degree management to the optimum level for maximum impact in crime and harm reduction"

Boost its investigative capacity to improve outcomes for victims of the most traumatic and life changing crimes of rape and sexual offences, child abuse and child exploitation

Work with the University of the West of England to accelerate its plans to sustain and grow detective numbers

Continue to automate processes – it has already saved 9,000 staff hours

Build new police stations in Wincanton, Williton and Wells and give the Bath neighbourhood team a new city centre location

Progress the new Yeovil police station project and its plans for police stations at Trinity Road and Broadbury Road in Bristol

Continue to invest in leadership

Ms Mountstevens told councillors in December the 6.6 per cent increase was a "really big decision" but a rise of less than five per cent would result in a cut in staff, and the equivalent of 64 PCSOs.

Speaking this week, she said two-thirds of residents supported paying more to increase policing but added: "We know this is a really financially difficult environment – people have been furloughed, people have been made unemployed. We know that this is a big increase."