Police Scotland says 29 stations at risk of closure to plug budget gap

Fettes Police HQ in Edinburgh is among those shortlisted for closure

Police Scotland says 29 stations are at risk of closure as it seeks to raise funds to plug a budget gap.

Fettes and Leith stations in Edinburgh and Glasgow's Stewart Street are among the buildings that could be sold off.

Fourteen of the stations don't have public access. Police Scotland said officers and staff would be moved to other locations.

Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham said it had a large and ageing estate that was "no longer fit for purpose".

Sixteen further vacant or unused Police Scotland buildings are also under review.

• Police Scotland open voluntary redundancy scheme to civilian staff

• Police Scotland chief seeks extra £128m funding

The force said the financial savings from property sales would be re-invested into providing policing services.

Mr Graham said: "The locations of many inherited buildings no longer meet the requirements of local communities and in some cases the organisation is currently maintaining multiple buildings in the same area.

"Some of the buildings are just a few miles apart, others are used by only a handful of police officers or staff and have no public access."

Police Scotland said the buildings that officers and staff work in need to be "safe, functional spaces" that are sustainable and adaptable enough to meet changing public expectations.

Stewart Street in Glasgow is under review for closure

Proposed station closures

Glasgow and West: Castlemilk, Saracen, Bishopbriggs, Milngavie, Stewart Street, Gorbals, Baillieston, Pacific Quay, Paisley, Ferguslie Park, Greenock, Dumbarton, Alexandria, Ayr

Edinburgh and Fife: Balerno, Fettes, Leith, West End, Portobello, Oakley

Tayside: Dundee Annexe, Ryehill, Hilltown

Highlands and North East: Muir of Ord, Mastrick, Rosemount, Seaton, Whinhill, Torry

Officers and staff in Greater Glasgow, Tayside, parts of the North East and the Highlands would be redeployed elsewhere in the area under closure plans.

In the rest of Scotland - including staff at five stations in Edinburgh - there is no suggested destination for officers should buildings be shut.

Mr Graham said most workers would not move more than four miles from their current workplace.

He added: "Our presence in communities is not defined by buildings but by the officers and staff who work there.

"We have already introduced technology that enables our officers to remain in local areas, reducing the need for them to return to police stations to deal with paperwork."

A voluntary redundancy scheme for civilian staff was opened earlier this month in a bid to further cut costs.

Unison's Police Scotland secretary, David Malcolm, said that staff already concerned for their jobs faced further disruption with news their workplaces would be moved.

He said: "No one seriously thinks that this is about improving services - it is a cost-cutting measure. It might deliver balanced books, but it won't deliver better policing.

"We agree with Police Scotland that the police estate is in a mess, but the way to sort that is to make the case for long-term investment, not short-term asset stripping".

'Waste of time'

Paisley Police Station is among those threatened with closure.

It is assessed as having a "medium" usage at its 24-hour front counter from those in the local area but under the new plans, its services would move to an as yet undisclosed location.

Joe Wallace said police would struggle to respond to incidents quickly if the station in Paisley closes

Joe Wallace, 68, said the decision could prevent officers from responding to incidents quickly.

He said: "Paisley is a big place and for the police to have to come from Glasgow or Greenock, it's a bit of a waste of time.

"If they are coming to incidents here and it is going to take 20 minutes, whatever happened could have been done in that time.

"It might be bad for some of the older people feeling [afraid] to go out at night with some of the louts running about."

It comes just weeks after the force's new chief constable asked for an extra £128m next year to cover recruitment and a 7% pay award for current staff.

Jo Farrell told a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board that officer numbers could drop by as many as 1,500 unless new funding was found.

The force will find out what is available when the Scottish government publishes its annual budget next month.

'Financially driven'

David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, said the move towards a "hub" model historically has not worked and has only "undermined" public confidence in policing.

"There is no doubt this proposal is driven by finance and there is no doubt there has been a lack of investment in the Police Scotland estate since it creation and we are now dealing with that legacy," he said.

David Threadgold said the decision would undermine public confidence in policing

"But if we remove and close some of the stations that have been proposed, which are in some of the most challenging policing areas, it can only send one message to the communities in those areas, and that is that there has almost been a forced withdrawal of policing service.

"Policing evolves, we can't go back in time where you have a police officer on every corner, but we must have the confidence of the public that when they try and contact us, we will respond."

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay said the news was a "hammer blow" to policing in Scotland

He said: "The SNP government has presided over the closure of 140 police buildings in the first decade of Police Scotland.

"The announcement that 59 more might be forced to shut down will devastate over-stretched officers and put communities at even greater risk."