Police ponder station changes

POLICE chiefs are reconsidering plans to close local police station inquiry desks.

The possible U-turn comes after residents in Oldham voiced their concern about shutting front counters at a public meeting with Chief Constable Peter Fahy at Oldham Civic Centre.

A month ago, Greater Manchester Police said it was looking to shut 29 front desks to save money.

Failsworth, Royton and Uppermill police stations would no longer use their counters, while the opening times at Oldham would be reduced from 24 hours to between 8am and 11pm and at Chadderton it would be open for an eight-hour period each day from Monday to Saturday.

Victims of crime would make appointments instead or use a new non-emergency telephone number, 101.

But following concerns from the Oldham meeting, and others across Greater Manchester, Mr Fahy said he was now looking at innovative ways of keeping a number of stations open to the public.

He said: “We’ve heard concerns about the police stations and we are looking at other ways to see if we could provide the service in another fashion.

“If we employed more administrative support staff to support neighbourhood teams, could they then keep the local police station open? It is one of the difficult decisions we’ve got to make.”

The force has so far held seven of the public meetings, which it says have been well-attended. There are five more still to take place.

Mr Fahy added: “These meetings so far have been invaluable in providing us with an insight on the issues that really matter to local communities.

“We are concentrating on preserving front-line services and will continue to focus on neighbourhood policing. However, it is inevitable that tough decisions will need to be made.”

Councillor Paul Murphy, chairman of Greater Manchester Police Authority, said: “We have been extremely pleased with the very positive response to the meetings we’ve held so far.”