THE police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley has slammed Slough Borough Council for ‘scaremongering’ and being ‘irresponsible’.

Matthew Barber has written to Slough Borough Council expressing his concerns about a motion the authority tabled about the proposed reorganisation of the force, including the suggestion the local police station in Windsor Road may be closed.

The proposed reorganisation suggests introducing five new command areas, placing Slough within Berkshire East, alongside Bracknell, Windsor and Maidenhead.

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Within the motion discussing the proposal, the council noted they would ‘vigorously oppose any loss of a front of house, centrally located police building within the town’.

In Mr Barber’s letter to the council, he wrote that the motion can be interpreted as ‘a public suggestion that the future of Slough Police Station is at risk’ which is ‘simply untrue’.

He wrote: “I am concerned about the motion that you have tabled at Slough Borough Council this evening.

“It is hard to interpret the proposal of this motion as anything other than a public suggestion that the future of Slough Police Station is at risk.

“This is simply untrue. I note that to the best of my knowledge you have not spoken to the local commander, senior officers in Thames Valley Police or myself on this matter. Therefore I would be grateful if you could clarify where such a suggestion has come from.

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"There are no plans to close Slough Police Station and a public suggestion in this fashion can at best be seen as scaremongering.

“At a time when we have witnessed a number of very serious incidents in the town which the police are working hard to address, this sort of speculation is frankly irresponsible.

“The police and the council need to continue to work closely to tackle violent crime. I am grateful for the support of the leader and cabinet to this end, and I had hoped that this support would be cross-party across the council.

“We should all be seeking to address residents’ understandable concerns by tackling the root cause of violence, not creating additional and unnecessary apprehension about closing vital public facilities of which there is no prospect.”

After receiving the letter from Mr Barber, the authority amended the motion to read: “…vigorously oppose any loss of a front of house, centrally located police building within the town, while acknowledging that there are currently no plans to close Slough Station/front counter.”

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The addition to the motion was coloured red in order to the public to note the difference.