A SADDLEWORTH councillor has led the call for a new police station in Oldham capable of booking in arrests.
The Greater Manchester force is looking at plans for a facility in the town, but it is claimed initial plans had no cells.
Now Saddleworth West and Lees’ Cllr Sam Al-Hamdani has written to Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Kate Green, who deals with policing issues in the area, and called for a station that can book in arrests.
At the moment, officers in Oldham have to travel to Tameside or further afield to do so, which in parts of the borough can add an hour to the time taken, for each officer involved.
Current plans may see officers have to travel even further afield to book in arrests.
The Liberal Democrat said: “We have heard direct from officers about the amount of time it can take to have to travel outside the area after an arrest.
“People rightly want to see police out on their streets. We desperately need a police station in Oldham – the current one is well beyond its shelf life, but we need to see one which solves the problems we have, not extends them.
“We need more officers on the streets – whether that’s by more priority for neighbourhood policing nationally, or practical solutions locally.
“Recently we have seen police facilities lost in Shaw and Crompton.
“We need to have officers visible on our streets, and unfortunately we are seeing poor decisions from inexperienced councillors, and impractical approaches from GMP, which are reducing that.”
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