Dudley Council is set to give the go-ahead for alterations which will take the borough a step closer to a new police headquarters.

A planning application from West Midlands Police has been received by the authority to make changes which will prepare Castlegate House in Dudley to become the new base for officers in the region.

The building, on Castlegate Way, was bought for £3.5m to replace older buildings including the station in Brierley Hill.

Plans submitted to the council include erection of a two-metre high boundary fence, car park security barriers and an external storage building, generator and cycle shelter, CCTV plus a roof mounted radio antenna.

Plans submitted along with the application show no major alterations to the exterior of the main building but some changes to the interior including the addition of an entrance for an area open to the public.

Plans also show the addition of a fitness room and large area for changing and lockers and, on the first floor, police plan to retain office space and the existing breakout area.

A statement accompanying the application said: “The external works proposals largely retain the site’s existing layout, with the introduction of secure fencing to create separate secure operational and public car park areas. 

“The secure operational car park will utilise the existing vehicular entrance, with alterations to the barrier and access control. The public car park will be accessed by a separate entrance into the site, situated south of the existing entrance to the east of the site.”

West Midlands Police are yet to reveal how much money they expect to make from the sale of the existing headquarters in Brierley Hill however information released under the Freedom of Information Act shows what other police property went for.

The sale of the former police station on New Road in Stourbridge raised £1.1m in 2018 while in 2021 the Vicar Street site in Sedgley brought in £820,000.

Cops’ coffers were also boosted in 2018 by the sale of the station in Moss Grove, Kingswinford which raised £551,500 while the disposal of the Dudley station in New Street locked away £475,00 in 2021.

Police say broadly speaking funds raised in this way would be reinvested into buildings, vehicles or IT.