MP prepares to fight for police training centre facing closure

The announcement that the National Police Training College in Harrogate will close has prompted grave concerns that the spa town could be blighted by urban sprawl if the vacant land is re-developed.

The Tory MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Andrew Jones, has admitted that the closure of the training centre, which is one of only a handful in the country, will be a body-blow to the town’s economy.

But he has stressed he will be making every effort to ensure a suitable alternative site for the training college is found within the Harrogate district.

The Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that more than 180 jobs have been thrown into jeopardy after the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) confirmed the site will close as part of cost-cutting.

Mr Jones said: “It is matter of major regret that the site will be closing, but we do have to recognise that significant savings are having to be made across the whole country.

“However, the Harrogate district is extremely well placed to serve the whole of the North of England and I will be fighting tooth and nail to keep the training centre in the Harrogate district.

“The current site is very strategic, and a careful decision needs to be taken over its future. Nobody wants urban sprawl and a knee-jerk reaction to simply sell off the land for housing development would simply be unsatisfactory.”

The Yorkshire Post revealed last week that Harrogate Borough Council is about to embark on a district-wide consultation amid controversial plans for thousands of new homes.

More than 2,000 homes are planned for Harrogate alone, with the west of the town, where the training college is based, pinpointed as one of the key areas for development.

Council leader Don Mackenzie stressed the scale of proposed development would need to be handled sensitively through the planning process. He added: “I’m disappointed at the decision by the NPIA while understanding that the organisation needs to make an internal reorganisation.

“Harrogate Borough Council needs to be always aware of the fact that you cannot just provide houses upon houses but you have got to improve the infrastructure and of course provide the employment to make it work.”

The Yorkshire Post revealed in February that the training college, which is a major employer in Harrogate and works with more than 1,200 officers every year, was faced with an uncertain future amid cost-cutting.

And the NPIA confirmed on Tuesday that the base will be closed as it battles to slash its property costs by 50 per cent.

There are 184 staff employed at the Harrogate site, which is devoted to teaching police personnel to become trainers, and a question mark now hangs over their jobs.

The NPIA, which itself is due to be phased out next year as part of the Government’s cuts, has been ordered to slash spending on its 11 sites from more than £20m to about £10m.

An NPIA spokesman maintained “all options” were being looked at which could see the training college potentially moved to a new location in Harrogate. No final decision has been made over when staff will leave the existing site, which is in a large Victorian house on Yew Tree Lane.

The spokesman was adamant that the closure was driven by a need to cut property costs rather than wage bills, but admitted no decision had been reached on whether redundancies would have to be made.

The NPIA has already reduced the number of employees from 2,174 in May last year to 1,636 on July 31 this year. The Home Office has confirmed a new streamlined agency which will act as the NPIA’s successor.