Police station closure 'may be blessing in disguise'

A third of police stations across the Thames Valley area, including Hungerford, have been earmarked for closure after the force announced it would be reducing its estate to make savings of more than £40m over the next three years.
The replacement of Hungerford station alone is expected to save £23,000 each year.
PCSO Lee Bremner told the meeting: “The deadline is March 2017. However, we’ve been reassured that we will maintain a police presence in Hungerford.”
She said one option was to rent a shop and use it as a police office and added: “We’re definitely not going to be put in with Newbury.”
Mr Hewer told the meeting that he had discussed the situation with Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Anthony Stansfeld and said: “I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing. The station is big, Victorian and freezing cold with just one or two coppers wandering round in it.
“I’ve been promised a police presence - with perhaps longer hours - in the High Street. At present the time frame is given as three years but I think it will be less.”
Mr Hewer said he expected the site to be developed as flats and urged colleagues to “look on this as a new beginning” for policing in Hungerford.
He said he would invite PCC Stansfeld to address the council on the issue in the near future.
Town mayor Dennis Benneyworth agreed that the current situation was not ideal, observing: “If you go to the police station the way things are now, the chances are it won’t be open. Few people use it.”
Martin Crane reminded the meeting that there are still vacant rooms at the newly renovated Queen Anne building at Number 16, High Street.
He said landlords the Co-operative Group were “considering it for community use” and suggested that it should be considered as a potential future base for the neighbourhood police team.
Mr Hewer replied: “I shall ask the PCC to look into it before he comes to address us.”