By Natalia Forero, Local Democracy Reporter 
There is still no final decision on the future of Bitterne Police Station eight years after it closed, with cost assessments being carried out to find out whether it should be demolished or refurbished.
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Police and crime commissioner (PCC) Donna Jones has given an update on the status of the Bitterne Police Station, saying a police station is needed in that part of Southampton.
The station, in White’s Road, has been closed since 2016 and has been subject to many plans and promises, including the announcement in 2020 that the site would reopen.
The plans for the building were cancelled, and in 2022, it was confirmed that it would be demolished.
However, at a Hampshire County Council meeting on Friday (Oct 18), PCC Jones said that assessments around the cost of demolition are being carried out to determine whether the station should be demolished or kept.
She said: “We’ve had some assessments done around the cost for demolition. The key thing is that we need something in that part of Southampton, but the police station is not in a particularly great state of repair, so it’s whether or not we do convert or we refurb.”
The Conservative PCC said the decision was delayed due to the need for additional custody provision.
Sign in the window of currently closed Bitterne police station, taken in June 2021
With work needed to the custody suite at Southampton Central, they had been looking at whether Bitterne would be able to be used instead for a number of months – but that wouldn’t be possible due to Home Office rules.
Mrs Jones said an estate board will meet to continue working on the decision.
She mentioned that they expect the station to have eight to 12 cells instead of the previously expected number.
“I think custody being built in Bitterne at the scale which we were previously anticipated, which would be potentially 18 to 20 cells, it’s really difficult on that site because of the Home Office regulations now around spacing custody flow, exercise yard, showers, everything that you need to have; we just can’t get that number of cells there.
“We could probably comfortably do eight to 10, maybe 12, but then for the cost, we wouldn’t be at a decant Southampton into that, so it wouldn’t be enough.”
She also said that conversations are taking place for a station in Fleet, and the “aspiration” for a station in Eastleigh “is still there”.
Previously
Ten police stations opening to public; no word on Bitterne
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