Stirling has been selected as the location for Scotland’s new national police force hub, with Tulliallan Castle in Fife being retained as the new force’s ceremonial and corporate headquarters.
During a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority yesterday it was decided that a new Police Scotland forward command base should be located at Randolphfield from April 1, subject to a quality impact assessment.
A report drawn up by the new single force’s chief constable, Stephen House, revealed the relocation will cost £55,229.
The Police Scotland Command Team has been based at Tulliallan since October but its shortcomings as an operational HQ were highlighted from the outset.
Tulliallan will be retained as a ceremonial HQ and base for some senior officers and staff working on reform. The Scottish Police College (SPC) is separate to Police Scotland and will continue to be based there.
Speaking before the final decision, a spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “A proposal has been submitted to the Scottish Police Authority to locate the interim command base for Police Scotland at existing facilities at Stirling.”
She said the new base will give the command team oversight, command and control of policing operations across the country.
“Tulliallan’s listed building status, remote location and lack of flexibility, combined with the costs associated with the installation of command and control facilities would be both costly and inappropriate, potentially extending to millions of pounds,” she added.
“It is intended that Tulliallan would continue to be used as the corporate Police Scotland HQ, with some offices and conference facilities retained for use by the chief constable and deputy chief constables and the remainder of the accommodation used by the National Police Reform Team and other staff.
“This will ensure maximum benefit is achieved from the money spent upgrading Tulliallan Castle in 2012.”
The Scottish Police Authority approved the proposal.
An SPA spokeswoman said: “At the Scottish Police Authority public board meeting today, members considered the business case presented by the Police Service of Scotland on the creation of a forward command base for the new service at Randolfield, Stirling.
“The board questioned the chief constable at length on the proposal, during which the chief constable made clear that the corporate headquarters for the Police Service of Scotland would remain Tulliallan.
“The board felt that they received adequate explanations during their questioning and approved the proposal.”
Dundee and Perth had joined forces to bid to bring the HQ further north.
Convener of the Tayside Joint Police Board Jimmy Black said: “I think both Perth and Dundee could have offered very suitable buildings to be the headquarters and they are very well connected in terms of transport links but Stirling is a good choice because it’s central and within reach of a lot of the population.
“It’s good that the decision has been made not to put the headquarters in Glasgow or Edinburgh because it’s really important that the whole of the country feels involved.
“I’m disappointed that the SPA hasn’t allowed Perth and Dundee to make their case in person but I suppose they have a very difficult job to do right now.”
Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Miller added: “As a council, we strongly support the dissemination of headquarters and government departments to cities across the country.”