Site for new Kettering police station identified by Northants crime commissioner, with deal said to be a 'priority'

When the town's former and now derelict London Road police station closed in 2017, members of the public had to use a police ‘desk’ housed within North Northants Council’s Bowling Green Road offices, which is open Monday to Friday.

The Weekley Wood Justice Centre joint facility shared by police officers from Corby and Kettering, just off the A43 on the outskirts of the town, is not open to the public.

In a meeting of the police fire and crime commissioner panel yesterday (June 19), Ms Stone confirmed to members a Kettering site had been earmarked.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone said: “We have identified a preferred site in Kettering and we are in legal negotiations with the site owners, so we can’t say more at the moment.

“However this is a priority for us and we will announce more – to our officers and staff and to the local community – just as soon as we can.”

Kettering, Corby and Rushden police stations were closed in 2017. Wellingborough remains open.

Response officers attend 999 calls from the Northern Accommodation Building known as the ‘nab’ near Kettering.

The new town base will be found for the neighbourhood policing teams as well as a public enquiry office.

In April, Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet had said he knew how important it was to the public to see their police officers and PCSOs in the ‘heart of their community’ and know how to contact them.

He said: “Corby and Kettering will have the visible and reassuring police presence that they deserve, and we are looking at ways to engage with all of our communities across the county.

“I want Northamptonshire to be the safest place it can and putting police officers back into the centre of towns – where they want to be – has a big part to play.”

Last year, Rosie Wrighting, MP for Kettering, called for a publicly-accessible police hub in Kettering town centre to bring back 'visible policing’.

She said: “Kettering is far too big a constituency to be without a public police station.”