The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
New police station hangs in the balance
A huge question mark is hanging over plans to build a new police station in the north-east’s biggest town.
Multimillion pound plans for a new station and custody suite at Catto Way in Peterhead were approved in 2013, after police chiefs warned their existing facilities were “not fit for purpose”.
Their claims came after inspectors concluded prisoners taken to Merchant Street faced a “significant risk” of death in t he cramped cells.
But three years on – and with the planning permission for the new site due to expire in just seven days – doubts are mounting that the new £5million station will ever be built.
The complex, which would have been next to the town’s fire station, would have accommodated 50 officers and 20 prisoners.
Last night, fears were raised that the case for the station at Peterhead had been superseded by Fraserburgh’s new £444,000 cell block, as prisoners are simply transferred there.
But police insisted they were still looking for a “solution" to the Peterhead problem and are hopeful of a “positive” outcome.
A spokeswoman added: “We must also take into account the financial savings to be delivered by Police Scotland.”
North-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said if t he f orce allowed planning permission to expire, it would be another example of changes being made “in the wrong direction”.
“The opportunity for the police to do something positive and build a fit for purpose station in Peterhead appears to have been missed,” he said. “They have effectively thrown this permission away. If it wasn't fit for purpose then, it's not fit for purpose now.”
Councillor Alan Buchan - who backed the need for a new facility but raised doubts about the Catto Way site – said the creation of the custody block in Fraserburgh effectively scrapped the need for one in Peterhead too.
“I can't see them spending millions on a new station at Catto Way,” he added. “The cells have gone and will never come back.”