ACCRINGTON will get a new police base, but it may not have cells or interview rooms, it was announced.

The new ‘facility’ is still in Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw’s draft five-year-plan, despite £20million cutbacks, he said.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Mr Grunshaw added: “We are consulting with chief constables on what the police want.

“We will then consult with the public, Hyndburn Council’s Miles Parkinson, and Hyndburn MP Graham Jones about what they want. We will then make a decision on what kind of police facility we should have in Hyndburn.”

Mr Grunshaw stopped short of confirming the ‘facility’ would be a police station.

And said he did not want to promise something that he could not deliver.

Lancashire’s police force is being restructured, and the number of territorial divisions will be reduced from six to three, Mr Grunshaw said.

The headquarters for East Lancashire will be in Greenbank, Blackburn, it was decided last month.

From April, the eastern division – for Blackburn, Hyndbuurn and the Ribble Valley – will be merged with its Pennine counterpart, for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, to cut management costs as the force tries to save £73million by 2017.

Mr Jones said: “It’s for the police to decide what is best. “Greenbank is a fantastic facility in that it does not tie the police down.

“And it can hold the number of people being arrested. It’s only minutes away from Accrington.

“If Greenbank is the best option to put more police out on duty and on the beat then what is it we want in Accrington?

“Is it a forward facing premises in which people can provide police with information?”

Coun Parkinson added: “I don’t envisage having cells in Accrington.

“But I expect a presence. Mr Grunshaw may have been highlighting there will not be cells because there is not a need for them, or for questioning rooms.”