WORK has started on a new police station for Tavistock, following the signing of contracts between the police authority and the contractors last week.

Midas Construction is undertaking the construction work at Abbey Rise and aims to complete the building before Christmas.

The new police station will be occupied and fully operational in January 2012.

A purpose-built police station has long been on the cards for Tavistock as the existing 19th century Grade II building in the town centre is considered to be inefficient in terms of useable space and expensive to run, costing up to five times more than a modern building.

But there are some concerns that a police station out of the town centre will result in more crime.

The existing station and Guildhall complex, built in 1847 by the Duke of Bedford, have been acquired by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust which will undertake refurbishment and develop them for the benefit of the community once the station has been vacated.

The station enquiry desk closed earlier this month as part of force-wide cuts, meaning there is longer any public access to the police station.

The new £1.7-million facility, to be constructed on part of the old Superwinch site on Abbey Rise, will be just over half the size of the current station and be capable of accommodating 30 police officers and staff, plus operational police vehicles. It will comply with disability laws.

Police Sgt Dave Anning said: 'This site is only a few minutes' walk from the town centre and is adjacent to the other emergency services. It will be modern and open plan, so very different from the current station.'

He said the needs of Tavistock and its surrounding communities were at the core of this project. The new community police station would allow the flexibility to accommodate whatever resources were required to police Tavistock and the surrounding area into the foreseeable future.

There will be meeting rooms available for community partners and sufficient space to control incidents, such as missing persons, on the west side of Dartmoor.

But town councillor Brian Trew, a former special constable, said police should be in the community not on the outskirts: 'My view is that police stations moving away from the town centre will result in the same thing that happened in Launceston — more crime on a Saturday night.

'Without a visible presence in the centre of Tavistock I strongly suspect that drink-related crime will increase.'