Councillor hits out at police fire station plan
GoogleA police force's plans to base some of its officers in a fire station have been criticised.
Last week Northumbria Police said Washington's neighbourhood policing team would move to the town's community fire station alongside firefighters from 2026.
It follows the force's announcement last year that Washington Police Station would be shut due to expensive renovation costs.
But Sunderland City Conservative councillor Antony Mullen said a town the size of Washington deserved a "proper police presence" and not simply some officers based at a fire station.
Mullen, who represents the Barnes ward, said: "If there was a major incident, this new co-located headquarters would not service that incident.
"Washington would still in effect be policed on that kind of scale by Southwick."
Southwick is about six miles (10km) away from Washington.
Washington Police Station, while still in use, has been closed to the public for about five years and the police are trying to sell the site.
'No longer fit for purpose'
In November, Northumbria Police said its force was "absolutely" going to stay within Washington despite the planned closure.
But Mullen said the new plan to move officers to a community fire station was not in the "spirit of what was implied".
He said the lack of a proper police station could mean slower response times to major incidents in the town.
Mullen said his party would keep an eye on the quality of policing in Washington after the move took place.
Ch Supt Mark Hall said Washington Police Station was an old building which was "no longer fit for purpose".
He said: "It is important that we are providing our communities with value for money and we want to direct the resources we do have available into operational policing to keep our communities safe."
