ATHERTON will have a new police station by March 2005.

The station at the junction of Flapper Fold Lane and Gloucester Street is one of 16 new police projects being built within Greater Manchester at a cost of £78 million.

Hindley Green Councillor Stephen Murphy, chairman of the Greater Manchester Police Authority, has welcomed the building of four new divisional HQs -- one in Wigan -- five sub-divisional HQs, a traffic section HQ and six deployment stations.

He said: "The new stations are designed to ensure we are both more visible and accessible to the public.

"In addition they will provide officers and support staff with the right facilities to carry out their jobs to the highest standard."

Atherton's station will house vehicles and accommodate operational patrols and the operational support for uniform policing."

Thery will also be home to specialist units including criminal investigation, crime management, scenes of crime, specialist constabulary, traffic training, community affairs and traffic wardens.