Commissioner’s decision to move office under fire
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CHESHIRE’S Police And Crime Commissioner defended his decision to relocate his office from the force’s HQ at Winsford to Warrington saying the move would save the public £57,000 a year.
At a heated meeting of the Cheshire Police And Crime Panel earlier this month, David Keane also said he didn’t need to be sitting next to the chief constable or holding his hand to do his job.
He told panel members his current office cost the public £78,000 a year.
“That, to me, is a greatly substantial amount of money to house around about a dozen staff in an office at a cost that many of our residents may perhaps purchase a house for,” said Mr Keane.
He said he was moving to ‘a smaller, much more affordable space on the first floor of a local police station’ at Stockton Heath which would save the constabulary £57,000 a year.
He also said his move had made it easier for some Cheshire Fire Service staff to relocate to Police HQ at Winsford.
But the commissioner was criticised for not informing members of the Police And Crime Panel about his impending move.
Panel member Sally Hardwick said at the meeting in Macclesfield: “I’ve only known about it through word of mouth, third party information and from something I read in the local paper.”
When Mr Keane referred to the savings, she asked for a copy of the business case.
Panel chairman Howard Murray was furious with Mr Keane, who is also a Labour councillor on Warrington Borough Council.
Cllr Murray said there was a proposal that police commis- sioners would also oversee the fire service and by moving to Warrington away from Winsford Mr Keane had ‘divorced’ himself from the services.
With regard to the money the commissioner said would be saved, Cllr Murray said: “You’re going to chew that up in travel expenses, shuffling between one and the other I would estimate.”
He added: “I’m going to ask for every travel claim ... backwards and forward to find out how justified it is.
“And part of that, commissioner, is because you didn’t tell us.”