DUDLEY Council planners have given the go-ahead for a new police headquarters at Castlegate House in the town.

West Midlands Police has been issued with a change of use certificate for the building, on Castlegate Way, which is currently designated as offices.

The building will house around 422 staff and include a desk open to the public from 8am to 10pm.

When he announced plans for the new station, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said  “The new police station will be fit for the 21st century and it will become Dudley Police’s headquarters. 

“It will be a base for the local neighbourhood policing team, for force response and it will have a front contact office that the public can attend, speak to a police officer and report crime.”

The current police station building in Brierley Hill will be sold off however neighbourhood teams will continue to be based in the area at a new location.

The new development will mean the return of a police station to central Dudley, the previous station closed in 2017.

A report to council planning chiefs says the change of use can be granted because the building will remain predominantly as offices, there will be no cells at the new headquarters and the change of use will not make a dramatic impact on the surrounding area.

Speaking in October when the plan for the new station was announced Dudley North MP, Marco Longhi, said: “This is fabulous news, since the police stations in Sedgley and Dudley town centre were closed we were promised a new police station.

“We have finally got there, we are going to get some refurbishment work going on, it might take a year or so before it happens.”