Police air service to shut Staffordshire base under cuts
The National Police Air Service which provides air support to forces throughout the UK is to close its base at Halfpenny Green Airport.
The airport, near Bobbington in South Staffordshire, will cease NPAS operations after Government funding cuts prompted changes to the service.
Halfpenny Green is one of 10 of 25 bases set to close nationally over the next two years. It means the nearest police helicopters will be based in Birmingham as of January 2016.
Under the new system, there will be 15 bases in England and Wales, all controlled from headquarters in West Yorkshire.
NPAS bosses say the move will help the service make 'substantial financial savings' while improving 'efficiency and effectiveness'. The service has already made savings of £11 million in the last year.
West Midlands Police, West Mercia Police and Staffordshire Police will continue to share the service from Birmingham following the closure of the Halfpenny Green Airport base.
The accountable manager for NPAS, Chief Superintendent Ian Whitehouse, said: "NPAS needs to find further substantial financial savings with a target of 14 per cent of revenue cuts over the next three years. This is on top of the 23 per cent savings already made. Local police forces facing similar savings are looking at how they rationalise their estate and ways of operating and NPAS is no different in this regard.
"There is no easy way of doing this and difficult decisions have to be made. On Thursday, the National Police Air Service Strategic Board therefore decided to move to the 15-base model. This move will help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the service and mean that every base supports police forces 24 hours a day."
He added: "It is a move based on an analysis of potential threat, risk and harm to the public we serve."
