Project update: New crime fighting base will '˜drive forward policing'

Blackpools new police station which will be finished in the spring

Workers are now putting the finishing touches to the external elevations of the building on the site of the former Progress House council offices on Clifton Road, Marton.

Internal fittings will be installed before officers can start to move in.

There will then be a period of transition to relocate staff from the current Bonny Street police station before the new facility is officially opened.

The new base will serve as aheadquarters for the county’s West Division, which covers Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre, Lancaster and Morecambe.

It will also provide a base for some of the local policing and response teams as well as having a public inquiry desk, investigation hub and 42 custody cells.

A range of specialist teams serving the whole of the division will also be based there.A Â£21m pot of cash has been set aside for the relocation of Bonny Street police station since 2012 after warnings the building was coming to the end of its useful life.

Contractors started work in December 2016.

An inquiry desk for members of the public will remain in the town centre, based at the town hall.Ian Cosh, director of Resources at Lancashire Constabulary, said: “It is great to see the new headquarters, which will drive forward policing in the area, really starting to take shape.

“This project is the biggest build ever undertaken by the Police and Crime Commissioner and Lancashire Constabulary and one which I firmly believe will help us to provide a better quality of service to the public.”