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Another chance to see plans for Police Headquarters

Northumbria Police

9 January 2008


People are being given another opportunity to consider plans to develop the Northumbria Police headquarters site at Ponteland.
A follow-up event to the public exhibition and stakeholders' meeting in July will take place next Tuesday, September 9, in Ponteland.
The police authority is seeking outline planning permission to build new premises on the headquarters site at Ponteland and release surplus land for development.
GVA Lamb and Edge are retained as planning consultants for the project, to prepare and submit the application to Castle Morpeth Borough Council on behalf of Northumbria Police Authority.
The new headquarters building is needed because the current buildings are not considered 'fit for purpose'. Some offices are in the original cottage homes which were built in 1902 for the Newcastle Board of Guardians. Multi-storey blocks added in the 1960s when the site became a teacher training college are now past their useful life.
The age and condition of most of the buildings makes them hugely expensive to maintain. It has also proved difficult to adapt them fully to meet the needs of any staff and visitors with reduced mobility.
The Communications Centre, which was completed in 1999, is the only building on site which is suitable for and able to meet the technological needs of the modern office environment.
The 70-acre headquarters site more than meets the space needed for a new HQ building and it means Northumbria police will stay at Ponteland, where staff will continue to contribute to the local economy.
The HQ development plans will be on display at the Memorial Hall, Ponteland, on Tuesday, September 9, from 4pm, along with an update on responses to the early public consultation event. This will be followed by a meeting for all interested parties at 7pm, which anyone is welcome to attend.