POLICE want to close one of their stations and bunk up with Oxfordshire’s fire service in a cash-saving move that could be replicated in other parts of the county.

But the scheme was condemned last night as further evidence of limiting public access from a force that has been cutting hours at some stations.

Thames Valley Police yesterday said it would consult the public over its plan to sell off Kidlington Police Station in Oxford Road and open up a front desk at the fire service headquarters in Sterling Road.

Patrol and neighbourhood officers would be relocated to the police headquarters.

The scheme comes as police are already advanced in their plans to shut and sell Wantage Police Station and operate a ‘counter service’ in the town’s library for four hours a day, Monday to Friday.

In the Kidlington proposal, Thames Valley Police would not pay rent to the fire service but would foot the bill for the renovations needed to the fire station to accommodate its front desk and would also share running costs.

If successful the scheme could be replicated elsewhere in Oxfordshire, although Thames Valley Police claimed it had not yet ear-marked other areas for similar sharing schemes.

Chief Superintendent Tim De Meyer said that the plans were in response to the way people are now choosing to contact police and would not result in any reduction in the number of police officers serving the Kidlington area.

Denise Dean, from Blackbird Leys, whose 14-year-old daughter was robbed of her mobile phone in 2010, said it was wrong to make cutbacks. She said: “They are already cutting back – they shouldn’t be reducing things – if anything they need to do more. ”

Police station hours have decreased during the last decade.

Abingdon, Cowley and Banbury police stations all used to operate a 24-hour front desk service for the public. They still open daily, but none after midnight.

But Ch Supt Meyer said that the majority of people now prefer to call the police and arrange an appointment at their own home.

He said: “We carried out public consultation last summer and analysed data in respect of what front counters are for. We’ve been looking at data from the last couple of years and looking at the ways calls are handled.”

When asked how much money the force stood to save by making the changes he said: “We can’t go into the financial details simply because we haven’t worked through all of them.”

Andy Viney, secretary of the Thames Valley Police Federation, said that the public needed to be reassured victims of crime and suspects could be dealt with in privacy.

“What we are saying is we have to appropriately review what people go into the police station for and make sure that there are the facilities to make sure the alternatives are appropriate places,” he said.

Under the changes in Wantage, while the town's police station will close, a new one out in Grove will be built.