Last week I joined Lib Dem Group Leaders from across Greater Manchester to meet with the Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester – Tony Lloyd.

Mr Lloyd updated us on a number of issues around his first eight months in office, and the challenges facing the police going forwards. This included talking about the recent re-appointment of GMP’s Chief Constable, the challenge of reduced funding and the need to maintain police numbers wherever possible.

I asked about three things:

Prestwich Police Station ‘to let’
We discussed the closure of Prestwich Police Station and also the potential of shared use of police stations in the future. I asked about the big ‘to let’ sign on what used to be our Police Station in Prestwich on Fairfax Road. Apparently this was not a police building so it is not the police who are letting this out, but a private owner.

Local Police ‘Parading’
I asked about the practice of all police having to ‘parade’ (clock in and briefing) at a main police station each working day. My understanding is that this means all the police for Prestwich, Whitefield and Radcliffe have to start their day at the main police station in Whitefield. Although the distances involved for us are not as large as they are in other parts of Greater Manchester, it is still quite a lot of time spent that could have been policing the local area. It is,

Police Community Consultation
I also asked about the different ways the Police discussed issues with local people – particularly comparing the amount of ‘Twitter’ accounts that the police have (which probably reach quite a lot of people), and also the number of community meetings we expect our police to attend. I was asking about the need to ‘strike a balance’ between police time and time spent in meetings.

Tony Lloyd did offer to answer other queries in writing – so let me know if there are things you want me to send in.

Tim