£2.5m Leeds ‘custody suite’ lies empty after police cuts

West Yorkshire Police has decided to use the purpose-built 22-cell custody complex at Pudsey police station as an “overspill site” after cutting the number of suites in the county from 10 to six. Each of the force’s five policing divisions will only have one custody suite each, with the site at Pudsey used if the other sites become too busy.

The force recently launched a radical “programme of change” to transform its operations after cuts left it needing to make £143m savings over six years. It says it can ensure as many officers as possible are kept in front-line policing roles by reducing the number of buildings it uses.

Demand on custody has dropped in recent years as fewer arrests are made, and Chief Constable Mark Gilmore said the need for less sites will mean 28 new officers can go out on the front-line. The custody suite covering the city will now be at the new £35m headquarters of City and Holbeck division, due to open at Elland Road next year.

Mr Gilmore said the change would bring an opportunity to make money by allowing the site to be used by Government agencies, and added: “We have got to say, we have got a really good facility here, that does provide a contingency to the force, but are there other opportunities? This is where police officers have to become more business-like, to say ‘are you really using that asset as best you can to income generate and putting that money into front-line services?’.”

As part of the changes, the five policing divisions covering Leeds and Bradford have been cut to two and a number of management positions removed. When the Pudsey site was revamped in 2010, the move was hailed as providing “vastly improved custody facilities” compared with the two sites used at the time by the now-defunct North West Leeds division.

Police and crime commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson said: “For me it is about maximising the best use of what assets I have. If it is about choices between retaining buildings and protecting front-line police officers and PCSOs I would prefer to keep people in the jobs.”

The West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel’s chairman, Les Carter, said residents and councillors in the area should have been consulted on the plans.