Written question asked by Helen Jones (Labour) on Tuesday, 18 April 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 April 2006. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Wednesday, 17 May 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Bruche Police Training Centre

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he has taken to ensure that Centrex co-operates with (a) the local authority and (b) local residents when planning the future use of the site of the Bruche police training centre.

Answer: [holding answer 24 April 2006]: The Bruche site will continue to be used as a police training centre up until 26 May this year. The situation remains that there are no options as to future use on which to consult locally yet. Any such options will be determined largely by who takes an interest in purchasing the site when it is put onto the market. The Home Office continues to work closely with Centrex on that process and, once options begin to emerge, we will be in a position to engage with local people over the future use of the site. The Centrex estates and facilities management team, along with staff working on behalf of my Department, have already begun preliminary discussions with local planning authorities around all three Centrex sites that are closing and will be focusing more effort on these discussions over the coming months.Any change in the use of sites will, of course, require planning permission and the local authority will then need to involve residents in consultation over their decisions on any applications that are made. We welcome the involvement, in all such discussions and consultations, of members representing those communities that are affected by the closure of Centrex sites.

Secondary information