LISKEARD’s crumbling police station is to be knocked down and a new one built in its place.

Devon and Cornwall Police say they hope to see the new station open in November 2019.

The current station building on Greenbank Road was opened in 1968, and has ‘reached the end of its life’ says the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).

The building is suffering from subsidence and concrete cancer and the OPCC says it would not be economically viable to repair.

Police stopped using the cells at Liskeard Station several years ago as they no longer met the standards required for holding people in custody.

The public facing office at the station closed in 2014.

Plans for the new building have been submitted to Cornwall Council this week. It will be designed as a non-custodial station and will provide space for 70 staff in total, although it is envisaged that around 20 staff will be on duty at any one time.

A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘The decision was made in October 2017 to progress with construction of a standalone Police station on the existing Liskeard site.

‘The building will provide the same function as the existing station with 24/7 access as an operational police office…with limited public access.

If the plans are approved and the project goes ahead, the station will be demolished later this year. Officers will be relocated to a unit on the Heathlands Business Park while the new-build is completed, said the police.