Talks held over police move to Castle House

​Police have held talks with Newark and Sherwood District Council over a potential move to Castle House, the Advertiser can reveal.

Initial discussions took place about a shared use of the district council’s headquarters on Great North Road, Newark.

The meetings were revealed following a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request by the Advertiser.

No formal decision has been made and there are no immediate plans for the police to move to Castle House.

Concerns have been raised about the future of Newark Police Station on Queens Road, which was purpose-built and opened in 2007.

Last year, its custody suite was mothballed.

The council and police refused to give details of the discussions under the FOI request, but did admit the information existed and gave statements.

A police spokesman said: “We are continually reviewing our estates in order to provide the best value for money for the force balanced with operational need.

“As part of that work we have had a conversation with Newark and Sherwood District Council regarding a move to Castle House but we don’t have any plans to move our Newark operations there at this stage.”

The council said all public bodies, including itself and Nottinghamshire Police, were responsible for ensuring that they provide good value for money.

This includes the ongoing review of estates.

Extending relationships

Kirsty Cole, the council’s acting chief executive, said: “We currently work alongside a number of partners at Castle House and are keen to look into the possibility of extending those relationships.

“Initial discussions have been had with the police and we will only proceed if it is in the best interests of the public.”

The district council moved into its offices in September after quitting Kelham Hall and already shares the building with the Department For Work And Pensions, Newark and Sherwood Homes, Citizens Advice Sherwood and Newark, Newark and Sherwood Community and Voluntary Services and the National Probation Service.

The Advertiser sent FOI requests to the police and council asking for minutes and documents relating to the potential for their shared use of Castle House, together with the dates of those discussions and if they were concluded.

In its response, Nottinghamshire Police said: “Records and correspondence relating to the organisations and topics are not held centrally and could potentially be located across more than one department and both over a number of systems and in paper format.

“To locate, retrieve and extract any information that may be held in relation to your request would require contacting every department and team within Nottinghamshire Police which may have been linked to or worked in any such area and had contact with any of the mentioned organisations, and would then require a manual search of all records and documents held in order to identify any data relevant to your request.”

The district council said: “We are withholding that information since we consider the exception under regulation 12 (4)(e) of the Environmental Information Regulations, applies to it.

“This exception relates to internal communications and allows public authorities the necessary space to think in private.

“Given that no firm proposals have been developed and no decisions made, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the level of detail requested.”