CLOSURES of police stations across the West Mercia force area are “inevitable”, the chief constable has admitted.

During a live webcast today, David Shaw said in difficult financial times he would rather keep bobbies on the beat than continue to fund all the existing buildings.

He said some stations are “used two or three times a day” and that “tough decisions” are going to be made over which ones shut down.

Deputy police and crime commissioner Barrie Sheldon also revealed a report is expected to be published within three weeks outlining the changes.

He also said commissioner Bill Longmore would “visit every station personally” and consult with residents before making the final decisions.

Mr Sheldon and Mr Shaw answered questions on a range of issues including council tax, front-line policing, PCSOs, council tax and rural crime.

After a question asking for details on the future of police stations, Mr Shaw said: “We are very soon going to be able to set out proposals to the commissioner and his team, and there will inevitably be a rationalisation of buildings.”

He added: “We’ve got some stations used two or three times a day, and that’s for very low level things like producing documents - I cannot defend that when we could be using the money to put police on the streets.”

He said “tough decisions” will need to be made over which ones close, before Mr Sheldon said he is expecting a report within “two or three weeks” on it.

Mr Sheldon added: “We know it’s an inevitability.”

During the webcast Mr Sheldon also defended the controversial alliance with Warwickshire Police, saying it was the only way to protect the force from even more visible cuts.

As your Worcester News revealed last week, 140 police officer jobs are being axed by 2016, as well as 315 civilian jobs in West Mercia.

Mr Sheldon said: “As with all forces nationally the Government has asked us to make huge reductions to the police budget.

“West Mercia alone has to reduce its budget by £20 million by 2015 - the alliance is a very sensible, pragmatic idea where we are able to provide the same level of service despite the cuts.”

He said the main focus would be merging back office jobs like IT and human resources, producing savings which would otherwise impact on the front line.

Mr Shaw said it was about “making the best use of every pound” and that he would keep “complete operational freedom” in West Mercia.

“The big decisions have already been taken - the big one was 18 months ago when we agreed the alliance,” he said.

During the debate Mr Shaw also said he detected “a strong appetite” from the public for PCSOs to be handed more powers.

He said: “I’ve been a fan of these from day one - when they started there was a whole range of powers for PCSOs - this force started off fairly middle of the ground, but now we’re looking to build on that.

“Looking at things like alcohol, obstruction, dealing with parking, I detect a strong appetite that we should use the PCSOs even more than we do now.”

Mr Longmore was advertised to take part in the debate on his website, but his office said he could not take part due to illness.