A £2.3m modernisation of Acocks Green Police Station is being proposed by a report going to the West Midlands Police Authority (WMPA) on Thursday (19th January). The report which led to headlines in today’s Birmingham Mail (focussing mainly on the possible closure of Steelhouse Lane Police Station in the city centre), which alarmingly seemed to imply that Acocks Green Police Station may close. As a result Councillor Bowen and myself made some quick checks with the Police Authority to get to the bottom of what is being proposed. It quickly became clear that closure is not an option. Instead a variety of possible developments to replace or modernise the police station are on the cards.
The report going to the WMPA is rather bland on the proposals for Acocks Green. It states:
“Replacement of Acocks Green Police Station has the potential to release three aged buildings as a result of one new build”, it identifies a budget of £2.3m for the rebuild, and states that it will deliver “New purpose built accommodation for neighbourhood policing.”
We asked the Police Authority for more details and they made it clear that no decision has been made on how Acocks Green Police Station should be modernised – all they are doing on Thursday is to allocate the funding, which would justify a study being done into the best way to do it. Theoretically options could include a rebuild on the existing site, a new build on a new location in Acocks Green or a renovation of the existing building. However they were clear that, whatever scheme is developed, existing opening hours will be maintained and our excellent Neighbourhood Policing Team will still all be based in Acocks Green.
The timing currently proposed would be for the work to be carried out in the 2014/15 financial year. This means we have two years to see, first, whether the plans are indeed to be developed and secondly to discuss and debate the detail. It will be a very important project for Acocks Green, and vital to get it right. Its not often that one of our public buildings has a £2.3m investment and both Councillor Bowen and I will be taking a very close interest in it as it develops.
Acocks Green Focus Group’s take on this story, and pictures of the police station, is here: http://bit.ly/zjOCoc
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