Councillors in Brierley Hill have called on Simon Foster, Police & Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, to find a new location for police officers in the town after he presses ahead with “illogical” plan to move Police headquarters out of Brierley Hill.

Despite strong concerns from residents and ward councillors, the PCC has confirmed his plan to move Dudley Borough’s Police headquarters from its current location which is central to the borough in Brierley Hill to a new £3.35m site on the edge of the borough near Tipton.

Councillors Adam Davies and Wayne Little have campaigned against the plan, collecting petition signatures and making what they say is an obvious case against an illogical proposal that would base officers further away from the communities they are trying to serve.

Disappointed with the PCC’s decision to go ahead with the £3.35m purchase of a new replacement site at Castlegate, the Brierley Hill councillors attended a Strategic Policing & Crime Board meeting chaired by the PCC at Lloyd House in Birmingham to further make the case for keeping Brierley Hill’s police teams based in the ward.

During the meeting, Mr Foster agreed to work with the councillors to find a new Brierley Hill base for neighbourhood police teams that cover the area but fell short of committing to their full request to also keep response teams and a public front desk at the new base. Councillor Davies said:

“The PCC’s overall plan makes no sense and is leaving residents in our area feeling massively concerned.

“While we’re pleased the Commissioner has accepted our call for the neighbourhood teams to stay based in Brierley Hill, we also need our response teams based locally too.

“As Brierley Hill is right in the middle of the Dudley borough it is a far better location for a front desk than Castlegate which is literally on the edge of the borough near Tipton.”

Pointing to the £3.35m price tag of the new Castlegate site purchased by West Midlands Police at the direction of the PCC, councillor Wayne Little added: “It simply isn’t credible for the Labour PCC to blame budget cuts for this nonsensical decision.

“In reality, his plan will probably cost the force more because it not only involves £3.35 million to purchase the new site, but also the costs to turn the Castlegate building into a Police Headquarters.

“His plan won’t save West Midlands Police money and it really makes no sense at all.”