POLICE communications for the region will be consolidated in the city.

West Mercia Police is closing its communications centre in Shropshire for 999 and 101 calls, with some redundancies and merging to Hindlip.

It means that all 999 calls and 101 calls for the region will be answered in Worcester.

A spokesman for the police said it was not a cost cutting measure, with some staff moving from Shrewsbury.

Some staff opted to take redundancy rather than moving to Worcester, which could create more jobs for the city. 

Superintendent Emma Bastone, West Mercia Police, said; “West Mercia Police has made significant investments in its Operations Communications Centre and has built a new state of the art centre at Hindlip, Worcester, which will replace the two existing communications centres at Worcester and Shrewsbury.

"The purpose built centre is equipped with the latest technologies that will bring major improvements in our ability to respond to incidents and revolutionise the way our communities can interact with us.

"The new centre is enabling greater collaboration with emergency response partners, offering a fundamental step change in the way we can manage critical incidents.

"We are committed to protecting people from harm, and providing the best service to those who call 999 or 101 when they need help. This brand new centre is part of a programme of investment that will help us to achieve this and ensure the public gets the right service first time.

“We are transitioning to the new service model and are currently recruiting additional staff to be based at our Hindlip site, with some staff from our existing Shropshire base planning to relocate to the new centre at Hindlip, ensuring that we retain our communications officers’ important skills and local knowledge. We can reassure the public that there will be no reduction of services.”

Worcester's control room currently covers Worcester, Hereford, Ledbury, Kidderminster, Pershore, Evesham, Malvern, Droitwich, Bromsgrove and Redditch.