Dewsbury's police HQ approval 'great news' says mayor

The new Dewsbury station on Halifax Road is to have a custody suite and helpdesk, said police

A new district police headquarters is to be built on the site of the former Kirklees College in Dewsbury.

The campus on Halifax Road will be demolished except for the 1880s Oldroyd Building, which will become offices.

The new HQ is due to be completed by the end of 2024 and will include a 30-cell custody suite and accommodate about 290 staff.

Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, said Kirklees council's backing for the plans was "great news".

"This new facility will provide a modern, efficient and adaptive base for officers and staff to work from," she added.

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The creation of the new HQ means the closure of the existing Huddersfield Station on Albion Street.

The Dewsbury development was ratified by Kirklees Council's Strategic Planning Meeting on Wednesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Kirklees commander Ch Supt Julie Sykes said keeping open both existing stations was not viable as they had reached the end of their functional  life and were "not fit" for modern day policing.

She said the new base represented the end of a 15-year search during which the force had tried and failed to secure premises within Huddersfield town centre.

Construction work on the "milestone investment" was expected to start in the new year, the force added.

The force will retain a base in Huddersfield at the now-vacant Nissan and Fiat car dealership plot at Broadway, opposite Tesco, on the ring road.

Plans for the new station are still subject to approval, West Yorkshire Police said.