SLOUGH'S police station closure won’t be part of Thames Valley’s multi-million cost-cutting measures, the force’s Chief Constable said.

At an overview and scrutiny meeting on Wednesday (November 4), members heard Thames Valley Police (TVP) is looking to cut £13.4 million from its budget over the next three years.

Councillor Dilbagh S. Parmer (Labour: Cippenham Meadows) asked if they have any plans to shut down the Slough Police Station like they have in the past with others – such as the Langley station.

Chief Constable John Campbell responded saying the force has ‘no plans’ to close it.

He said they sometimes close police stations down ‘if there’s a good reason for it’ such as replacing the building with something else if it’s too expensive to run.

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He added the force has shut down front offices as ‘people don’t often visit their local police station’ as they now either call or report crimes online.

Chief Constable Campbell said: “I certainly have no plans to shut Slough’s police station at all – but I would like to have more spaces around the community where we have more police offices.”

Superintendent Gavin Wong, area commander for Slough, added: “We would always like more stations – but one of the things about Slough is that it’s quite small.

“When we did lose Langley, it wasn’t as impactful as we thought it was going to be. It wasn’t as bad to be fair.”

In a report presented by Chief Constable Campbell to councillors, he said TVP received an additional £8.4 million precept last year – which Thames Valley’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld, secured.

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With Covid-19 having an ‘unknown’ impact on TVP’s budget, Chief Constable Campbell said the £13.4 million efficiency savings is a minimum they think the force has to cut over the next three years.

He said: “I will have to make sure, along with the commissioner, we are protecting the operational activities of enforcement as much as possible and looking for those efficiencies elsewhere.

“I have to say, we have been doing this for seven or eight years. We saved around £100 million thus far on the budget and there’s places to go.”

Councillor Satpal S. Parmer (Labour: Cippenham Meadows) said with crime rising such as the spike in knife offences, TVP shouldn’t be looking at cutting its resources to tackle these challenges.

Chief Constable Campbell responded saying many other organisations are making a lot of cuts as well and is hoping the government will give TVP more funding in the next round of spending reviews.

However, he warned the police force will still face more cuts to come.