A new state-of-the-art police station should be completed in 12 months.

Work has now started on the £7m building on the site of the old MG factory off Marcham Road, Abingdon. A completion date of April 2000 has been set.

The new HQ for the Southern Oxfordshire Police area will incorporate a police station and traffic base to replace the current premises in Bridge Street, Abingdon, and Witney.

The final exchange of contracts between Thames Valley Police Authority and their private sector partners, a consortium led by Babcock Brown Properties, has now taken place. The old HQ for the police area in which Abingdon lay was in Witney. But when the police boundaries changed earlier this month, the town became part of the new Southern Oxfordshire Area.

Area Commander Chief Supt Michael Page said the boundary changes aimed to align police areas with existing local authority areas to enhance strong partnerships with district councils. He said: "It is important that the area headquarters is central - a criteria certainly met by the Abingdon site, which lies in the heart of the new police area. The site is also an ideal base for our traffic department as it offers easy access to the main arterial routes they police."

Thames Valley Police Authority chairman Daphne Priestley said: "This will be a much-needed, first-rate facility."

Story date: Friday 09 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.