Shropshire's police 999 call room is to close

West Mercia Police's control room in Shrewsbury is to close by 2017.

The closure will see the communications centre move to a new base in Worcestershire, as part of £2.4 million plans that also include a centre in Warwickshire and closer links with Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

West Mercia Police Commissioner Bill Longmore said: "It is vital that the police modernise their technology, and this money will help provide state-of-the-art equipment, which in turn helps deliver the best possible service to the public.

"It's been well documented that money is tight in the public sector at the moment, so effective, efficient partnership working has never been more important. This is a great example of emergency services working together for the common good."

West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police will have a joint operations and communications centre based across two sites.

One will be at Hindlip Park in Worcestershire, serving the West Mercia force area, and the other at Leek Wootton in Warwickshire.

The closure of the Shrewsbury control room, which handles hundreds of calls a day, has been timetabled for 2017 once the new centre, dubbed OCC, is up and running.

More than £2.4 million has been secured from the Police Innovation Fund to fund the new initiative, on top of £800,000 secured last year from the Precursor Police Innovation Fund.

The force insists the funding will allow West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police to strengthen their working relationship.

The new control centres will be shared with Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

The joint OCC will operate on single telephony and IT systems, which should improve the way calls to the service are dealt with.

Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has also recently secured Government funding to enable it to move its headquarters from its present location in Worcester to nearby Hindlip Park. This will include its control room, known as Fire Control, being co-located alongside police colleagues.

The new arrangement means 999 calls will no longer be dealt with by staff in Shropshire.

But the forces say that, under the plans, the joint centre will allow the police and fire service to support each other during peak periods or critical incidents.

Amanda Blakeman, assistant chief constable for Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, said: "We are delighted to receive this additional funding. It will mean that we can explore further potential for partnership working with the aim of delivering excellent services to our communities, more efficiently".

Assistant Chief Fire Officer John Hodges, who is overseeing the project for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Greater collaboration with police colleagues demonstrates the service's commitment to the wider agenda of bringing blue-light organisations closer together to work more efficiently.

"We anticipate this move will bring many potential benefits to the service and to our communities, including improved working relationships, joint sharing of intelligence and data, more efficient use of property and a better service for the public."