Hove Police Station has been sold to Brighton and Hove City Council for £2.2 million. It is expected to be turned into a school.
Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has signed off the sale as part of a wider plan to base police teams in community buildings.
She said: “Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council have a long history of working together and this is just the latest project to come to fruition.
“I am delighted that I have been able to finally sign off the sale allowing for the building to have a new and exciting use providing much-needed new school places for children aged 7 to 11 to complement the West Hove Infant School Connaught Annexe.
“Hove Police Station has been a well-known building in the community for many years but it was expensive to run and not in a convenient place for the public.
“Although people are attached to the idea of a local police station, nowadays policing is carried out from other bases across the county.
“The number of people visiting police stations is falling year on year and there are better alternative sites that we could use, pooling our resources with the council.
“Following a wholesale review of the police estate I have agreed that there are better ways of working and better ways for the public to access their local policing team.
“In Hove this has meant the opening of the joint venture with Brighton and Hove City Council in Hove Town Hall, where members of the public can access police and council services in one place.
“I am looking forward to working with Brighton and Hove City Council on other projects in the future and to opening more centres like this across Sussex in the future.”
Inspector Jason Hazzard said of the Hove Town Hall initiative: “The shared public contact point gives people the opportunity to access both police and council services from one place within the heart of the community.
“Working in partnership with Brighton and Hove City Council on this and other projects across the city means people can expect a better service.
“Providing better facilities in Hove is just one change being introduced by the force to modernise and improve its service.
“As well as putting our bases in more convenient buildings, we’re investing in technology to enable officers to spend the majority of their time out in the community rather than have to go back to an office to access computers and giving the public more ways to contact us such as talking to staff online rather than over the phone.”
Council leader Jason Kitcat said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we have secured the Hove Police Station site to provide much-needed new school places for the local community.
“We’ve also worked with Sussex Police to provide them superb new facilities at Hove Town Hall as part of our ongoing work to save money and collaborate more effectively for the public benefit.”
