Commissioner dismisses more sites for new Corby police station, as MP says he is ‘getting impatient’
Northamptonshire’s police and crime commissioner has ruled out more potential sites for a Corby police station and says the search continues.
By Sarah Ward
Northamptonshire’s police and crime commissioner has dismissed more potential sites for a Corby police station and says the search continues.
A year on from a promise made by commissioner Danielle Stone and chief constable Ivan Balhatchet, a new site for a Corby station has not been found. The town, which is one of the fastest growing in the country, has been without a station for almost a decade with response cars having to attend calls from miles down the road and the only public service being two enquiries desks in Corby Cube which are open office hours.
In recent weeks more possible sites have been rejected, leading Corby’s MP Lee Barron to tell his fellow Labour politician, Danielle Stone that he is now ‘getting impatient’.
He told NN Journal he and his staff were keen to get things moving:
“We are assisting in the search for a suitable site for a police station, but frankly we are getting impatient.
“It is coming up to a year since we were told a new police station in Corby was a priority. Now my priority is holding people to account and holding their feet to the fire. A new station is what has been promised and that is what we must have.”
Last month the MP called for a working party between his office and the commissioner’s and since then there has been an online meeting and recent site visits at a number of central sites. The local authority has also said it can assist in providing a site if necessary.
The commissioner’s office told us:
“The commissioner convened a meeting with the chief constable, Lee Barron MP, councillors from North Northamptonshire Council and Corby Town Council and others to discuss options. Several suggestions were made that we are actively following up. We viewed three suggested properties the next day and none gave us what we needed – parking, sufficient interior space and a location within a mile from the town centre. We continue to search for a suitable site.
“The chief constable and the commissioner have a shared commitment to strengthening neighbourhood policing and response in Corby and are frustrated that they have not yet been able to deliver a visible, accessible new police station for the town.”
There does not appear to be a specific budget set aside for the new site.
The commissioner’s office said:
“When an appropriate site is identified, and subject to the normal appraisal and governance process, we have the capital provision for it.”
The Corby policing estate has not had any investment in several years. The £25m Northern accommodation unit in Kettering, which is not open to the public, was opened in 2017. It was the idea of the county’s first police commissioner Adam Simmonds.