New police station welcomed

Bilston is set to get a new £3.5 million police station within two years, it was revealed today.

Senior officers believe the existing Victorian building, on Mount Pleasant, is not fit for purpose. Originally built around 1840 to house prisoners, it is believed to be the only police station in the country with a moat around the outside, now just a ditch.

Plans have now been submitted for a new station, and a decision date has been set for next Friday.

By then, planning officers will either have made a decision to approve or reject the bid themselves, or they will have referred it for a planning committee to decide.

Former Wolverhampton police chief John Mellor, who worked at the station in the 1960s, welcomed the announcement and called for the old building to be preserved.

He said: "It was an adequate station for the time and it was a superintendent station which meant it was a divisional HQ. I'm sure that the people of Bilston will be delighted to get a new purpose-built police station."

Mr Mellor said he now wanted Chief Constable Sir Paul Scott-Lee and the West Midlands Police Authority to restore its status as a main station.

West Midlands Police spokesman Steve Garey said it was hoped the station would be built in two years, adding: "The new station will be in a prime town centre location and will enable local officers and PCSOs to continue to deliver a professional policing service." Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden said: "Bilston has needed a new police station for a long time."

By Mike Woods and Elizabeth Joyce