Chipping Norton Police Station is to be sold as part of a
consolidation of police property across the West Oxfordshire District.
The station on London Road will be sold off in 2015, but
Thames Valley Police has reassured residents a strong police presence will remain
in the town.
Superintendant Colin Paine, Area Commander for West
Oxfordshire and Cherwell, announced the closure of Chipping Norton and the
other West Oxfordshire bases of Woodstock and Charlbury last week.
“During these times of austerity it is entirely right for us
to seek to get the best possible value we can out of our buildings,” he said. “We would rather spend money on staff than buildings that
are expensive to run and have more space than we need.” He added: “I know that many people will feel sad when we
move out of the current Chipping Norton police station into another more
suitable but less historic building.
“But this is not about closing police stations; this is
about replacing police stations with more efficient buildings.”
He also gave assurances that neighbourhood teams and police
patrols in the town would not be cut.
“I would like to reassure the public that relocating of
police stations will not jeopardise response times to any incidents. “The neighbourhood policing teams will maintain the same
level of visible presence and they will continue to patrol in accordance with
their patrol plans and neighbourhood priorities as identified through public
consultation,” he said.
Town mayor Mike Tysoe said he understood the decision but
hoped the station might be put to good use for the community rather than be
transformed into homes, which has happened to other historic buildings in the
town centre including the old war memorial hospital.
“It’s very disappointing but the police have said they’re
going to maintain a presence in the town by renting alternative accommodation,”
he said. He added: “It’s in a strange location with two main roads
going up either side so I don’t know what they’re going to do with it.
“It would be quite nice if they gave it to the community to
use by putting something useful in there such as the library, but I can’t see
that will happen.”
Town councillors expressed concern about cuts in counter
services at the station in April last year after the announcement by Thames
Valley Police that staffing of the front of house service would be slashed.
The opening times for the public counter were reduced from
8am-4pm Monday to Friday to 10am to 2pm as of July 2 last year.
Former town mayor Chris Butterworth commented at the time:
“We’re extremely concerned that cutting staffing times in half will make the
service less efficient, “In the years I’ve lived here they’ve cut the number of
patrols and regular officers and replaced them with PCSOs.” Banbury Guardian.