WILTSHIRE Police have said plans to re-purpose Calne's Police station will make no difference to the way they police the town.
In November 2019 it was announced the station in Silver Street, would be closing in January 2020 to reduce the cost of the Wiltshire Police estate.
Calne Leisure Centre were set to become a touchdown point for officers to maintain a front-facing contact with residents.
The controversial move was met with anger from Calne residents who feared a rise in crime.
However, when the pandemic forced the leisure centres to close the station once again became a base for police.
In 2023, the PCC revealed plans to make the Calne station a permanent base for the rural crime team
At the time, Police and Crime Commisioner Philip Wilkinson said: "We want to improve our engagement within Calne.”
Although there is no public-facing front desk at the station, in recent years, the Rural Crime teams have been based at the station and Calne's Neighbourhood Policing team have been based at Monkton Park in Chippenham.
Now, new plans for the station have revealed that the Rural Crime team will be relocated to Trowbridge shortly and the station will be used by the Major Crime investigation team with no public-facing facilities or access to the offices.
This move has again raised concerns amongst residents on whether this will leave Calne vulnerable to more crime.
Inspector Pete Foster said: “We would like to reassure residents that officers will continue to police the town in the same way that they have been.
“For the last year Calne's Neighbourhood Policing Team have been operating from Monkton Park, Chippenham. The Rural Crime Team, who were based at Calne police station are being temporarily moved to Trowbridge due to resourcing requirements of an ongoing operation. Officers working in Calne will still have access to some facilities at the station.
“The facility will be used for additional capacity for officers and staff who are not in a public facing role.
“We do not expect there to be any change to the way that Calne is policed and encourage anyone with concerns or reports of offences to contact us through our website or by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency.”
The force has said it is focusing on savings that can be found from its buildings and vehicles as it struggles to fill an £11m hole in its budget.
Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Phillip Wilkinson said he was "left with no choice" but to ask for the maximum increase in council tax, after the annual Home Office funding was announced in December last year.
The deficit after this increase would stand at £6.8m - more than £1m of which had already been accounted for by Wiltshire Police - but a gap of £5.2m still remains.
Despite budget pressures, chief constable Catherine Roper said there would be no cut to police officer numbers with a plan to increase the use of mobile police stations set out in draft budget papers.
"Our savings proposals are focused primarily on efficiencies with our estate footprint, rationalising our vehicle numbers and, where we must look at our people, our aim is to reduce numbers by not recruiting into non-operational vacancies," she added.
The precept proposal was discussed at the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel on 5th February - the panel unanimously supported the precept proposal from the Police and Crime Commissioner, with an increase of 5.2% for 2025/26.
The Chairman of the Panel, Cllr Steve Bucknell, said The panel has welcomed improvements to police services in Wiltshire in recent years and, just as we always have, we will scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner to ensure this continues.
"We also noted the financial challenges Wiltshire Police were under, in particular due to Wiltshire and Swindon receiving less financial support than most police areas. In the long term, more fundamental changes may be needed from government on how police services are funded.
The maximum precept increase in council tax will see a Band D property pay an additional £14 per year.
Mr Wilkinson said that not increasing the policing precept by its maximum amount "would mean drastic cuts and backwards steps in terms of the improvements we are seeing from Wiltshire Police".
The force faced a "huge challenge ahead", he added, with Mrs Roper adding that Wiltshire Police was "not an outlier" in its financial struggles, as forces across the country face "significant financial challenges".
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