Plans to build new police station in Exmouth

No planning application has been submitted for the new police station yet so building work is unlikely to begin before 2023

A new police station in Exmouth is being planned, more than six years after the old one was closed.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall said the station site would be redeveloped and a modern facility built for officers and staff.

The closure of Exmouth's police station in 2015 was heavily criticised but remained a base for operational officers.

No planning application has yet been submitted for the new police station.

Devon and Cornwall Police and the force estates department, which is run by the commissioner, Alison Hernandez, will now set up a project team to deliver the new facility.

Ms Hernandez said significant increases in police officer numbers and a desire from East Devon residents for a policing base to remain in the town prompted her and the chief constable to look again at the issue.

She said: "Exmouth is a very significant town in Devon, like many other coastal communities in our force area it sees significant rises in population in the summer months and the hard-working officers and staff who serve that community need a base that's fit for 21st Century policing."

The new station will be financed by the sale of part of the existing site, with designs that are likely to include an area for face-to-face contact between the force and the public.

Police stations in Liskeard, Barnstaple and Exeter have been replaced in the past two years.