Land row hits new police station

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A multi-million-pound flagship police station, which boasts the biggest cell block in Kent, is standing empty because of a row over 7ft of land.

The station in Chatham was finished months ago but was partly built on land not part of the original project.

The South East England Development Agency owns the land, but said the row is between the police and developers.

The Kent Police Authority has said it cannot comment on the issue because of "contractual reasons".

We desperately need the extra accommodation that is available in this new building Angela Prodger, Medway mayor and Kent Police Authority member

It took nearly two years to build the police station, sited on former dockyard land, which will replace the existing ones at Chatham, Rochester and Rainham.

Its state-of-the-art facilities include a special unit for vulnerable victims, and the only suite in the whole county where witnesses can spot criminals using a photo data bank.

Medway's mayor Angela Prodger, who is also a member of the Kent Police Authority, said the whole matter was "very frustrating".

"We desperately need the extra accommodation that is available in this new building.

"I feel it's very unfair that officers are still having to work from conditions that are really not ideal," she said.

A spokesman for the Kent Police Authority said he was optimistic the problem could be resolved and officers could move in by the end of the year.