Staffordshire’s Conservative PCC Plans Review of Public Buildings
Hundreds of public buildings in Staffordshire could be closed to save money, the county’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner has said.
Matthew Ellis said a review of police and council buildings would help find out where money could be saved from the public purse. He said Staffordshire Police’s former HQ at Baswich had been empty for three years at a cost of £1m a year. “That’s money that could have gone into frontline policing,” he said.
Mr Ellis said the force’s empty former HQ was “just one example” of empty properties that could be put to better use by being sold or shared with other public bodies. Staffordshire Police currently owns 50 buildings.
Mr Ellis continued, “We need to understand where we can bring services together and how we can utilise buildings and assets better. We could free up an enormous amount of money for frontline services.”
The force relocated to its current £16m headquarters in Weston Road in 2010 having been in Baswich since the 1950s.
