PLANS to refurbish St Aldate’s Police Station in Oxford have been scaled back as part of £10.5million fresh police savings.
Thames Valley Police said the building was now the subject of a review and its budget for the works would be reduced by £1.6m, to £893,000.
At a meeting yesterday, director of finance Linda Waters said: “We are only going to do the essential work and look in the future at what we will do with the station.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld said there were no plans to close the building.
He said: “I am committed to keeping it, there’s no reason not to. What this means is that we will have to consider how extensive the works are.
“As Boris Johnson [the Mayor of London] said, police officers are more important than buildings.”
A report added: “The scope of the refurbishment works is being reviewed and is expected to be reduced pending completion of the review.”
Thames Valley Police said the review was due to “the current economic climate”. The force has to make £22m of savings by 2017/18.
Further budget cuts are also widely expected in the Government’s major spending review in the autumn.
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