Sutton Coldfield residents are being urged to sign a new petition to save the Royal Town’s police station from closure.
The town centre station, in Lichfield Road, is one of 24 across the West Midlands that is facing closure.
Now Sutton MP Andrew Mitchell has launched the online petition – at with Jay Singh-Sohal, the Conservative candidate to be the region’s next PCC, who has vowed to stop the closure if he is elected.
Mr Mitchell said: “As the town’s MP I welcome Jay Singh-Sohal’s categoric commitment to keep the Sutton Coldfield Police Station open and call upon the current PCC to think again and reverse this ill thought through decision.”
“The fact is the Government is increasing police recruitment with hundreds of additional local officers being funded – yet there are these plans to close our station along with many others."
The Government is currently engaged in a massive police recruitment programme, with 366 additional officers being recruited in the first phase in the West Midlands.
Mr Mitchell said local people wanted those extra officers based in the local community.
“Residents want to keep policing local but closing police stations will clearly make it harder for officers to engage with the communities they serve,” he said.
“I urge Sutton residents to sign this petition and send out a strong message that we want to save Sutton Police Station.”
Sutton Coldfield station has provided a strong physical presence for local police for 60 years since it was opened in 1960.
Mr Singh-Sohal, who lives in Sutton Coldfield, has said he will freeze planned station closures if he is elected as the next PCC and has committed to increasing physical police presence in Sutton.
He said: “Communities across the region are desperate to keep their police stations and the local police presence they bring. They have been sharing with me their fears of what losing their local stations will mean. Crime is ever-increasing and surrendering our stations would incentivise criminals and do more harm.
“I entered the PCC race to stop police station closures because I know just how vital they are to keeping people safe and deterring criminals. I know I can do more with the police stations we have, and I will invest in them to benefit the communities they serve.
“The argument that these closures will save money simply does not wash for taxpayers who are paying more in policing precept annually. Nor is it acceptable or fair for taxpayers in some areas to lose their police stations while new builds and refurbishments are funded elsewhere.”
To sign the petition, visit www.savesuttoncoldfieldpolicestation.co.uk
Presenter Black Country Radio & Black Country Xtra
The following Cookies are used on this Site. Users who allow all the Cookies will enjoy the best experience and all functionality on the Site will be available to you.
You can choose to disable any of the Cookies by un-ticking the box below but if you do so your experience with the Site is likely to be diminished.
In order to interact with this site.
To help us to measure how users interact with content and pages on the Site so we can make
things better.
To show content from Google Maps.
To show content from YouTube.
To show content from Vimeo.
To share content across multiple platforms.
To view and book events.
To show user avatars and twitter feeds.
To show content from TourMkr.
To interact with Facebook.
To show content from WalkInto.