Udall leads charge to save Dines Green police post from closure

Cllr Richard Udall proposed the motion to save the post in Dines Green at a Worcester City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 5.

His motion was met with unanimous, cross-party support as councillors agreed the post had to remain open, especially as the city continues to grow.

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The consultation, part of an estates strategy launched by West Mercia's police and crime commissioner, closed on Monday, July 11.

RISK: The police post in Burleigh Road, Dines Green, Worcester

We have previously reported how the post in Burleigh Road has been used as a base for community policing for a number of years.

Fears were raised in the community that the post was at risk of closure to save public money.

Last week Worcester City Council unanimously supported my call to keep the Dines Green Police Post open and to resist the Tory Police and Crime Commissioners crazy proposal to close it.
Labour putting people first and supporting our police officers. pic.twitter.com/rLV61K02w1

— Richard Udall, the Voice of St John's (@UdallVoice) July 11, 2022

The motion by the St John's Labour councillor was seconded by Conservative Cllr Alan Amos, representing Bedwardine.

OUTSPOKEN: Cllr Richard Udall did not pull his punches when describing what would happen if Dines Green lost the police post

Cllr Udall said: "It's a kick in the teeth to Dines Green. We need more investment not less."

Urging councillors to send a united message to the police and crime commissioner, John Campion, Cllr Udall said: "Dines Green police post does not just serve Dines Green it serves the whole of the west side of Worcester."

He also said it served the University of Worcester and a ring of parishes between the city and Malvern.

If anything, he argued the post should be expanded, not closed.

Praising the 'superb' PC Paul Slaymaker and his three PCSOs, he argued that closing the post would leave 'no permanent police presence in an area of Worcester with in excess of 30,000 people', a community that was growing with the city's western expansion.

"The proposed closure is short-sighted, badly timed and a strategic mistake," he warned.

BACKER: Cllr Alan Amos seconded the motion and said West Mercia was 'top-heavy' and should look elsewhere to save money.

Cllr Amos, seconding the motion, said: "This is not about party politics but policing. In essence, this is a petty, penny-pinching, cost-cutting exercise that will save very little money yet do lasting damage to the residents of the west side."

He said 'top heavy' West Mercia Police 'should look to themselves, not the residents of west Worcester who want to see more police officers on duty, not fewer'.

Cllr Amos expressed concern that any mobile service to replace the post could be scaled back and then withdrawn altogether.

Leader of the council Marc Bayliss also supported the motion but stressed, having spoken to the police and crime commissioner, that there was no direct proposal to close the police post.

It was, he said, 'part of a wider strategy and he was simply looking at the police force as a whole to look at its assets to make sure they are using them in the best possible way to fight crime'.

According to the estates strategy, the West Mercia Police estate consists of 91 sites with 111 separate buildings (including masts and Hindlip Church).

A combined gross internal area of all West Mercia’s stations and headquarter buildings equates to 38,280 square metres.

The report says the estate 'is aging and incurs significant annual running costs, of circa £8.9m per year'.

In total 61 per cent of sites are freehold and 39 per cent leasehold.

The assets have been valued at more than £62 million as of March 31, 2020.