Residents in Patchway are being invited to attend a public exhibition to find out about detailed plans for a proposed new police complex in the town.
Located at 90 Gloucester Road (the former Bensons site), the complex will contain a 48-cell Custody and Crime Investigation Centre together with a police station to replace the existing one at Elm Park, Filton.
The new police station will contain an enquiry office for members of the public and will serve the communities of Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke, Stoke Gifford, Frenchay, Winterbourne, Severn Beach, Almondsbury, Easter Compton and Hambrook.
Public consultation is being held over two days on Wednesday 16th November from 4pm to 7pm and Saturday 19th November from 10am to 2pm at Coniston Community Centre. Members of the public are invited to drop in to view the plans, discuss any questions with members of the team and feed back their comments.
From Wednesday 16th November, the updated plans will also be available on the Avon and Somerset Police website at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/accommodation and there is also an opportunity to provide feedback online.
Chief Inspector Mark Evans, Operational Lead for the Accommodation Programme said:
“90 Gloucester Road will house one of the three centralised custody centres across the force area, which will help us to process offenders more efficiently and return our officers faster to the communities where they are needed. It will also provide much improved facilities for our witnesses and victims.”
“These plans will not affect local policing; we are committed to maintaining our neighbourhood teams who will continue to patrol in the areas they do now.”
Chair of the Police Authority, Dr Peter Heffer added:
“We know we need to invest in the long-term future of the police service, giving our staff decent working conditions and putting them in the right places to respond to public need.”
“We are clear that trying to patch and repair our way through the next 30 years would be an expensive and unsatisfactory solution for both our people and our communities.”
This facility is one of four new buildings that Avon and Somerset Police are building as part of its Building for the Future programme, which is being funded by Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Funding has been confirmed by the Home Office and the final approval will follow in December 2011/January 2012.
The Gloucester Road site is expected to house approximately 280 officers and staff who are currently based in custody centres across Bristol and South Gloucestershire as well as those based in Filton police station.
Outline planning permission for a two-storey custody centre (approx 3,000 sqm of floor space) and a two-storey police station (approx 1,000 sqm floor space) was obtained from South Gloucestershire Council in September 2010.
A detailed planning application is due to be made in December 2011/January 2012. Construction is expected to start in summer 2012 and the facilities are scheduled to open in early 2014.
