City police station set for £3.5m revamp

Longton police station in Stoke-on-Trent was said to have seen minimal investment over several decades, according to police documents

A police station is to undergo a £3.5m refurbishment after previously only seeing "minimal investment" for 30 years.

According to a document from Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams, the Longton station in Stoke-on-Trent was one of the least popular for officers to work from due to the lack of money spent on it.

Under the improvements, the Sutherland Road building's floor-space will be increased by 15% to allow different police teams to work more closely together.

An option to rebuild the station at a cost of up to £10m was not deemed to be value for money - while a partial refurbishment would not address all of the building's issues.

The full refurbishment project was originally given a budget of £4.3m but after talks with suppliers, a saving of £786,000 was found.

"This investment into policing in the city of Stoke-on-Trent will provide modern, fit for purpose facilities," a note outlining the decision by the commissioner said.

The changes will deliver better services for residents and local economic benefits through the spend on building work, it continued.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.