Closing North Yorkshire Police HQ ‘would save £820k’

8:10am Saturday 20th October 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

NORTH Yorkshire’s police HQ should be closed and a cheaper replacement built to save £820,000 a year, according to one of the candidates to be the region’s first Police and Crime Commissioner.

Julia Mulligan, the Conservative candidate, has vowed to launch a plan to shut North Yorkshire Police’s Newby Wiske base, in Northallerton, if she is elected on November 15, saying the savings would be ploughed into protecting frontline policing.

The Grade II listed building and its grounds are believed to be worth between £1.2 million and £1.6 million. It is not an active police station, but houses the force’s senior officers and administration staff and is also a training base.

Once elected, the Commissioner’s powers will include setting North Yorkshire Police’s budget and Mrs Mulligan said: “Closing Newby Wiske and building new, more cost-efficient facilities presents an opportunity, and I believe this would be the best solution for the people of North Yorkshire.

“The current HQ’s running costs of about £820,000 a year represent a lot of money to spend on a building - the equivalent of the salaries of 30 police constables - when we need to focus resources on frontline policing.

“Newby Wiske is expensive to maintain and I feel this move would help protect jobs while also saving money.”

Mrs Mulligan was challenged on twitter this week by City of York Council leader James Alexander over where a new HQ might be based, but told The Press: “This needs to be looked at and there must be proper consultation over the facilities which would be required and how it would ensure North Yorkshire Police meets its objectives, as well as a due diligence process.

“It would not be appropriate to comment on potential locations at the moment, but I do feel the police jobs in the area around where Newby Wiske is based are very important.”

Mrs Mulligan’s rival for the Commissioner position will be Labour’s candidate, York councillor Ruth Potter, who represents Heworth, after nominations for the role closed yesterday.

Comments(13)

Dennis.Dart says...
8:37am Sat 20 Oct 12

Julia Mulligan who ever you are, you wont be getting my vote.
we need to support out police service not reduce it,

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old_geezer says...
9:58am Sat 20 Oct 12

"“The current HQ’s running costs of about £820,000 a year ..."

So if you build a cheaper replacement, the potential savings obviously cannot be the headline figure, probably not anything approaching that figure.

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Whistlejacket says...
3:17pm Sat 20 Oct 12

I agree with Julia Mulligan. I visited Newby Wiske a while ago and was shocked. The police HQ is more like a country house hotel than a workplace.
It's miles away from any of the population centres of North Yorkshire, where the police should be located.
It would improve efficiency and cost effectiveness to relocate the HQ to a commercial park by the side of the A1.

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R'Marcus says...
5:11pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Yes.
Close Newby Wiske. It is very expensive to run.
Build a cheaper one near York, and employ MORE police offers!

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BLOBBY35 says...
7:34pm Sat 20 Oct 12

surely then someone either in the police force or county hall needs there p45 ?? as they should have seen that these headquaters are to expensive to keep

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Ayemgee says...
7:35pm Sat 20 Oct 12

Presumably a new police HQ would be free of develpoment costs and generate no running costs at all if the £820,000 costs of Newby Wiske are to be fully saved?

What guarantee can Mrs Mulligan offer that her Tory cronies in Whitehall would look favourably on employing more officers once the savings such as they are are exhausted?

This seems to me to be the usual Tory line that more can be done with less and cutting back is actually growth. I find that when I cut back I can't do the things I was doing however impportant they were. I don't have the means.

Of course there will be some areas where savings can be made. We have actually been making them since the 1970s if you believe the politicos' policy statements but the size of the savings is always magnified in a run up to an election and reduced when faced with the reality of providing the service.

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Stan2Attention says...
8:24pm Sat 20 Oct 12

What is the running cost per square metre and per member of staff based at Newby Wiske? How does this compare with County Hall in Northallerton, the Guildhall in York, and the newest police headquarters in the country (wherever that is)? Simply stating that a place costs £820,000 a year to run is meaningless without comparisons.

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RooBeck says...
9:39pm Sat 20 Oct 12

This 18th country pile is more suited as a set for Downton Abbey, or a remake of Brideshead Revisited or Poldark! Whatever the savings in any relocation, a far less ostentatious and much more functional building, probably located in or around Outer York, would be a much better advert for a modern, 21st century police-force trying to reassure the paying public, that they are doing their best to serve them and are genuinally striving to keep and improve upon, premium front-line services. I'm certain a suitable hotel chain or maybe a casino, would pay good money for this rural retreat!!

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Dennis.Dart says...
10:08am Sun 21 Oct 12

what about the 100's of 1000's CyC has spent in relocating to the old railway offices, and th 1000's they have spent on 'decorating' the offices with expensive pictures
all very corrupt

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Sillybillies says...
5:38pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Dennis.Dart says...
10:08am Sun 21 Oct 12

what about the 100's of 1000's CyC has spent in relocating to the old railway offices, and th 1000's they have spent on 'decorating' the offices with expensive pictures
all very corrupt

What's that to do with the North Yorkshire Police Authority?

At least Mrs Mulligan has put before us a plausible item of policy, what are the other candidates planning to improve our quite appalling police service?

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York1900 says...
6:40pm Sun 21 Oct 12

There is plenty of office space a round North Yorkshire and York
But it would after be some were flash
North Yorkshire Police have a lot of offices that are unman around the county that could be put in to use

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York1900 says...
6:45pm Sun 21 Oct 12

Crime Commissioner candidate bitten by dog

Dog gave it is evedict

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HPSauce says...
11:00am Mon 22 Oct 12

So what if Newby Wiske is a "rural retreat"? Its a building to house senior officers and adminstration staff, its not an active policing base and therefore the location is largely irrelevant.

It's as always with these things, its only better to move if a credible alternative is found! All very well shouting off about saving this and saving that but tell me how much a new premises would cost to develop? Or an existing one to convert to enable suitable use?

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