Police officers in Oxfordshire could be given help to buy homes if a bid for Government cash is successful.

Thames Valley Police Authority has bid for funding for 166 properties for its police officers over the next three years under the starter homes initiative.

Under the scheme, funding is made available to support new development or refurbishment schemes that aim to provide affordable homes for key workers, including police, to buy.

The move, in partnership with local authorities and registered social landlords, comes as force research shows potential applicants are often put off proceeding further by housing costs. A report by Thames Valley Police chief constable Sir Charles Pollard to the authority's property committee said: "A review of potential recruits who initially register an interest but fail to progress with an application identified local house prices and low salaries as being two of the reasons for not progressing their application.

"Similar reasons were cited in recent exit surveys. This situation can only worsen as the force strives towards a position where the number of new recruits outweighs annual wastage.

If successful, the funding will provide different kinds of assistance towards buying a home, including shared ownership and repayable equity loans.

Bids for more than 1,000 homes for all key workers in the Thames Valley region have been made, and the police authority anticipates the number allocated to police will be increased.

The authority has bid for 23 properties in Oxfordshire - 15 in Oxford and eight in the north of the county.

It will hear later this month whether the bids it is supporting have made it through to the second round of applications.

From April, officers who joined Thames Valley Police after September 1994 will receive £2,000 a year to offset the cost of living in the region.