Plans for Morpeth police HQ may hit first school
Nov 21 2009 by David Black, The Journal
A POPULAR primary school could be affected by plans to build a modern replacement for an ageing police station in Northumberland.
Northumbria Police has drawn up four potential options for the redevelopment of Morpeth police station, which dates back to Victorian times and is reaching the end of its operational life.
Two of the options involve building a new station on part of the site of the nearby 340-pupil Morpeth County First School – which was rated as outstanding by Ofsted inspectors when it was last assessed in 2007.
The Northumbria Police Authority will reveal the four options at a public exhibition later this month, before deciding which one to pursue.
Two of them involve constructing a replacement police HQ on the front of the existing school site. The others involve demolishing the existing buildings and building a new three-storey station on the site, or modernising and extending the current station.
Yesterday a Northumberland County Council spokeswoman said: “These proposals have been submitted by the police authority as preliminary ideas for the possible redevelopment of Morpeth police station.
“Any proposal that could affect Morpeth County First School would be carefully considered by the school and the county council, and could only go ahead with their agreement.”
