Budget cuts blamed as force closes 999 site

A YORKSHIRE police force is to close a 999 control room and reduce opening hours at rural stations as it strives to overcome a £24m budget deficit.

About 150 call-handling staff face an uncertain future after North Yorkshire Police decided to shut its Newby Wiske control room and handle all cases from its other centre in York.

Some Newby Wiske-based employees will move to York and others will be found new jobs within the force, but the rest face redundancy.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Later this week, senior officers will reveal money-saving plans to reduce opening hours at stations which have the fewest visitors.

The Yorkshire Post understands that residents seeking help at Settle and Ingleton police stations will be encouraged to make an appointment to see Safer Neighbourhood Team officers.

The force will try to reduce the impact by holding more local surgeries and using mobile police offices in rural areas.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Madgwick, who is overseeing the changes, said the force had to make “difficult and painful decisions”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The move to a centralised control room is all about securing a sustainable and successful future for North Yorkshire Police at a time when funding has decreased significantly,” he added.

North Yorkshire Police Federation secretary Nigel Day said having one control room would leave the force more exposed to problems in the event of power failure or a computer virus.

“When we are reducing the opening times of some police stations it is clearly not ‘doing more with less’,” he said.