POLICE have expressed their delight in having a central base in Thornbury, as their new premises opened yesterday.

The Thornbury beat team, who until recently had a temporary base in the former South Gloucestershire Council offices in Stokefield Close, will now be based in a new office at the rear of the Thornbury Town Hall, along with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

A formal opening of the site was held yesterday, with Thornbury mayor Cllr Guy Rawlinson, incoming mayor Cllr Helen Harrison, Cllr Alan Carman, and St Mary Centre security controller Malcolm Kitteringham also in attendance.

Cllr Rawlinson said: “We are really pleased to welcome the team into the town centre. It has been a long time in the planning and it is great the day has finally come.

“As a council, we are really pleased to be able to make use of our space for the police and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, both of whom offer a great support for the community.”

Thornbury beat manager PC Sean White added: “It is great we are able to remain in Thornbury.

“With the many cutbacks that the police face, there is always the worry of relocation, but the fact we can stay so close to the community is really important.

“We had expected to move in just after the New Year, but we had to delay our move from the former council offices due to issues with radio signal in the building, which has now been fixed.”

He continued: “The main benefits of our new location is that we are right in the middle of the town, which will give us a considerable advantage in tackling local crime.

“It will also help us to continue working closely with the town council, maintaining the strong relationship we have with them.

“Being in the centre of the town and having our vehicles parked nearby will also give the public more awareness of our presence.

“Moving into the new site also coincides with us having constant live access to the CCTV cameras on the High Street and in St Mary Centre.”

But officers are keen to make the public aware this is not a 'police station', just a base of operations.

PC White said: “There will be some form of public access to us through the front office of the town council, but it will not simply be a place the public can drop by to report crime, that will still require people to call 999 or 101 dependent on the situation.”

He added: “We will also continue to have our monthly beat surgeries in the town hall.”