Cost of planned new police station almost doubles

The cost of a town's planned new police station has almost doubled in four years, according to a police and crime commissioner (PCC).

The base in Crewe, Cheshire, will be relocated to David Whitby Way when construction of the new building is completed early next year.

The station will replace the current premises in the town centre, which Cheshire Police said no longer met operational requirements and had issues relating to asbestos as well as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

Cheshire PCC Dan Price was quizzed about its budget during Friday's meeting of the police and crime panel, where he revealed the cost had risen from an estimated £8.5m in 2022 to £16.5m.

He said construction costs had "gone through the roof" since 2022 and the value of the land bought for the site was high because of the rail scheme HS2, which was scrapped from coming to Crewe a year later.

"We're left with land that was bought with a price that reflected that," he added.

The Labour PCC said it was in the best interest of the public to continue building the new station, despite the budget increase.

He described the current Crewe site as being "long past its use-by date".

"We are actually paying for an entire top floor, which no one can access because Raac is used and therefore the whole space cannot be considered safe," he said.

"There is asbestos within that building and, on top of that, we have got officers who can't park on site."

Once completed, the new station will be home to about 300 staff and operate on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year.

A Cheshire Police spokesperson previously confirmed they were committed to keeping a presence in the town centre in the from of a police hub, to let people get access to them.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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