NORTH Yorkshire Police today won a £500,000 grant towards its plans to build a "joined-up justice" headquarters in York.

The force has been awarded the cash from the Government's £20 million Premises Improvement Fund towards the capital cost of creating the unit at Clifton Moor, York.

The centre will bring together North Yorkshire Police's two administrative support units, currently based at Knaresborough and York police stations, and the three Crown Prosecution Service offices in York, Harrogate and Northallerton. The move follows recommendations in the Government's 1998 Glidewell report, which called for chief constables and chief Crown prosecutors to work towards creating a "seamless, joined-up justice system" from detection of the offence to sentence. It is aimed at making the prosecution process more efficient and avoiding duplication.

It will also save the force more than £700,000 from its administration of justice budget. Chief Constable Della Cannings said: "By bringing the police administrative units and Crown Prosecution Service together under one roof we will be better placed to implement a number of recent Government recommendations, and integrated working will reduce delays and speed up the judicial process."

North Yorkshire Police is one of 41 forces who successfully applied for grants to fund material improvements within the workplace.

Updated: 11:40 Monday, December 23, 2002