A new Community Police Station has opened its doors today at Chester Lane Community Hub in St Helens, providing a visible and accessible base for neighbourhood policing in the heart of the community.
Merseyside Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell was joined by Assistant Chief Constable Karen Jaundrill and officers from the local policing team, as well as St Helens South MP Marie Rimmer, and Deputy Leader of St Helens Borough Council Councillor Sharon Roughley, to officially open the new Community Police Station, located within Chester Lane Library in Clock Face today.
The facility will strengthen neighbourhood policing in the area, giving officers a central local base from which they can engage with residents, support problem-solving initiatives and patrol the communities they serve.
The new station replaces the former Millersdale Community Police Station and forms part of the newly opened Community Hub South, which brings together St Helens Borough Council services, Torus Housing, library services and a range of community partners under 1 roof.
Community Hub South was launched in April 2025 as part of St Helens Borough Council's One Neighbourhood programme. Designed to improve access to local services, the hub offers flexible community spaces, support services and opportunities for residents to engage directly with organisations providing help and advice.
The hub hosts a wide range of services and activities, including support from organisations such as Age UK, the Deafness Resource Centre, Torus Housing, Career Connect and affordable warmth advisers, alongside library services, family support programmes and health-related drop-in sessions.
While the Community Police Station will not operate as a traditional front-counter police station, it will provide a modern, local base for neighbourhood officers and staff, helping to increase police visibility and strengthen partnership working with local services. It will support community engagement activity, partnership meetings and planned policing operations. The facility includes dedicated office space, enabling officers to spend more time in the communities they police.
Merseyside Police Commissioner Emily Spurrell said:- "Neighbourhood policing works best when officers are based within the communities they serve, building relationships, listening to residents and working alongside partners to tackle local concerns. The new Community Police Station at Chester Lane Community Hub will provide exactly that. By placing neighbourhood officers at the heart of a busy community hub, we are making policing more visible, more accessible and better connected to the people and organisations working every day to improve local lives."
She continued:- "This fantastic facility brings together a wide range of services under one roof, creating opportunities for closer partnership working and earlier intervention when people need support. It also gives our officers a local base from which they can spend more time out in the community, rather than travelling to and from more distant police buildings. The opening of this Community Police Station demonstrates our continued commitment to delivering neighbourhood policing that is rooted in our communities and focused on keeping people safe. I'm delighted to see this important new resource open for the residents of Clock Face and the wider St Helens area."
Merseyside Police Chief Constable, Rob Carden said:- “The opening of a Community Police Station inside this excellent facility will help us maintain a highly visible and accessible presence in a building that is already a real asset for St Helens. It means officers will remain in the heart of the community, able to provide reassurance to people who live and work in the area, as well as helping us gather information that helps us to prevent crime and bring offenders to justice."
Rob continued:- “The Force Strategy I introduced underlines the importance of putting our communities first, ensuring they are at the heart of everything we do. Following the Force restructure, St Helens now has a locally-based command teams and a dedicated town centre team. This gives local communities a policing team that knows the area and understands the issues. Locating a Community Police Station within this hub will further strengthen those relationships and make it even easier for local people to access their police service. Sharing the St Helens Community Hub South with key partners enables us to work more closely with them. We all want the same thing – for St Helens to be a safer and more enjoyable place to live, work and visit – and the ability to work together under 1 roof is a huge advantage as we strive to achieve that. My officers are very much looking forward to working out of their new base, and invite anyone with concerns, information or questions to pop in and see us.”
Councillor Sharon Roughley, Deputy Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities, said:- "We’re pleased to welcome neighbourhood policing into Community Hub South, further expanding the services available, making them more accessible to residents and more responsive to local needs. The addition of this new police facility demonstrates our commitment to partnership working as we build safe and thriving communities together."
St Helens South and Whiston MP, Marie Rimmer added:- “This is a much-welcomed facility that will bring our neighbourhood police and other community services together for the benefit of local residents.”
Today’s opening comes just weeks after a Community Police Station was opened in the Lauries Centre in Birkenhead. It also follows on from the opening of a brand new police station in Newton-le-Willows earlier this year.
These developments are all part of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s 12 year strategy to transform Merseyside Police’s stations and buildings to ensure Merseyside Police is fit to fight crime, now and into the future.