Support for plans to reopen Corringham police station

Homesteads ward councillor James Halden has suggested moving the council’s Youth Offending Team out of the Magistrates’ Court in Grays - which is on the brink of becoming a small-businesses centre, and moving them to the police station site in Corringham.

The station, on Gordon Road, Corringham, closed in November 2011 following a consultation and central government cuts to the police.

But Cllr Halden is proposing that if the council’s youth offending team utilise the front desk facility, police could use backrooms for their business.

He said: “We want Corringham station to be useful and open to the public again. It is right that police are on the streets and not manning desks in the police station, but, certainly as someone who has lived in Stanford and Corringham for his entire life, I know it’s an important part of the community.

“Housing the youth offending team here would mean we have an open front desk at the station for the public for most of the day, where enquires to the police can be met face to face. It also means the police will have a functioning building to use and base officers and PCSO’S out of, rather than just having Grays to commute from.”

The idea has received the backing of Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston. He said: “I am sympathetic to the suggestion that Youth Offending teams move into the Corringham police station site. I am working closely with Essex Police, Thurrock Council and the Youth Offending service on the proposals.

“I am determined that, if Youth Offending teams move into the Corringham site, this will not have an impact on the provision of local policing services. Fundamentally, I am working hard with interested parties to deliver an outcome which will meet local needs but which is also in line with future police operational requirements.”

Thurrock Council declined to comment on the proposal but suggested a new home is needed for the Youth Offending team and said no decisions had been made.