Police in Southampton could be based at Winchester and Lyndhurst

Around 800 officers are set to leave Southampton’s Police Investigation Centre in March next year during the major revamp.

Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has now said some officers may be based at Winchester and Lyndhurst.

She revealed the plan while discussing her plan to swap her current Winchester office for one in Fareham.

Mrs Jones said the work in Southampton will address ‘a load of stuff’ including problems with air conditioning – and added the project is “a massive piece of work”.

She told councillors at a recent meeting the building, which was completed in 2011, is “not in a great state”.

The PIC houses the city’s 36 custody cells which are used to detain people who have been arrested.

However, these will be shut for four months. The nearest suites still in use are in Basingstoke and Portsmouth.

Mrs Jones said: “There is a notice period that needs to be served (in Winchester). That means we’ll be able to walk away from that office in November 2023.

“In the meantime... Southampton PIC is not in the shape it needs to be and therefore we need swing space to decamp teams that are in there to a number of other areas.

Bitterne Police Station

“We’re working with a number of other police stations that have got capacity such as... Lyndhurst which is not too far away but certainly St George’s Chambers (in Winchester) is going to be a vital space - it will not sit empty.

“It’s going to be a vital space with parking to be able to accommodate what’s going on in Southampton.”

Murder detectives, call handlers and CID are among those based at the PIC who will move.

A new 999 response and patrol hub in Bitterne was due to open this week, Mrs Jones said at last week’s Police and Crime Panel. A second response team is currently based at Portswood.

Neighbourhood officers are based in fire stations across the Southampton area.

Officers asked to start work elsewhere will still cover the city but start their shift at other stations.

Speaking at the meeting, Mrs Jones added: “It really is not in a great state - a building built before commissioners were in existence.

“It was signed off by the previous police authority very much under the project management of Hampshire Constabulary themselves.”

She said there were a “number of issues” and added: “The most cost-efficient for the public to put it right is to do a decamp, which is a significant piece of work, particularly when a third of our custody cells in Hampshire are there too.

“We’re having to work on overflow cells too - thank goodness we do still have police stations with cells in them although they’ve not been operational for four or five years.”

Hampshire police have said the force will ‘maintain operational effectiveness’.

A spokeswoman said: “Neighbourhood teams are already based at four other locations across Southampton and our response teams operate from multiple sites.

Donna Jones

“With the plans we have in place we are confident that we will be able to maintain operational effectiveness across multiple bases, providing ongoing visibility throughout the city.”

But Hampshire Police Federation’s secretary Garry Smith said officers have concerns about being required to commute further during the increase in the cost of living.

He said: “They don’t want to be extending their shift going to Portsmouth or Basingstoke.

“It couldn’t happen at a worse time with the financial crisis.”

The work in Southampton comes as £1.2m is being spent on refurbishing the call centre in Netley.

Mrs Jones said: “It just needs a load of stuff doing to it.

“It’s a £1.2m work programme we’ve just started and because of that some of those call handlers need to go elsewhere around the police estate.

“We’re getting that done before we move on to Southampton because of course we’ve also got the overflow 999 call handlers in Southampton PIC as well.”

Contractors are still being sought for the PIC work, due to start in March next year.

Portswood Police Station

When the move was announced, Assistant Chief Constable Lucy Hutson said it was a ‘bold decision’ that had won the backing from the force.

She said closing the station would cause “the littlest possible disruption to the day to day work of our officers and staff”.

She added: “We are confident that the impact on operational policing in and around Southampton will be kept to a minimum as we have plenty of time to get the planning right.”