A MULTI-million pound investigation and custody centre is planned for Basingstoke – but the scheme will result in the closure of the town’s existing police station.

Simon Hayes, police and crime commissioner for Hampshire, unveiled the plans this week as part of a £55million police estate overhaul in the county.

If approved by planners, the new Police Investigation Centre will be built on vacant land at Viables Business Park, providing a base for 350 investigators and staff, as well as 36 custody cells.

The police station, in London Road, will then close and be sold, with some staff moving to the new centre, although safer neighbourhood officers will be based at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council offices.

Mr Hayes said: “People in Basingstoke should be reassured that both myself and the chief constable are committed to neighbourhood policing, and we have found a solution to keep police officers in the centre of Basingstoke.

“This is part of a strategy with Hampshire Constabulary to be able to maintain delivering a quality policing service in times of austerity.”

The force has had to find £80million of savings up to 2016, but Mr Hayes said the estate plan will be “cost neutral”, due to the sale of other police buildings, such as Whitchurch police station.

Mr Hayes added the cost of processing and keeping an arrested person in custody will drop from £550 to £220 because of the new custody centre.

He spoke on Tuesday at a consultation event at the Sony Europe building in Jays Close, Viables, where plans for the new building were displayed.

The proposed site, currently owned by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, sits between the Sony and De Le Rue buildings.

It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will need to include parking space for around 250 vehicles.

Mr Hayes said a planning application would go to the borough council this month and, if approved, the new centre could be ready to open by spring 2016.

John Apter, chairman of the Hampshire Police Federation, broadly welcomed the plan, although he had some reservations about how far officers will have to travel across north Hampshire, on and off duty.

He told The Gazette: “I think this is long overdue. The Police Investigation Centre is going to be a purpose-built building which is something we have not had at Hampshire Constabulary for many years.

“I think in this situation with the budget, I would much rather see fewer buildings than reducing the level of police officers that we have now.”