Another new look for old police station

An application has been lodged with Preston City Council for a change of use for the building from general office accommodation to a financial and professional services headquarters.

Astute Wealth Management have taken over the old station and submitted plans to make external alterations including putting a canopy over the front entrance where the original blue lamp once shone brightly.

The change comes only 19 months after a previous application to turn the building from a police station into offices was approved.

Fulwood Police Station was one of 31 deemed surplus to requirements by Lancashire Constabulary in 2011 as the force sold off buildings to raise £4.5m to offset Government cuts. The closure announcement raised eyebrows because it came just 10 months after the station in Watling Street Road had undergone an expensive revamp.

In early 2011 around 40 staff were stationed at Fulwood, although response officers moved out five years earlier.

The building was constructed in the early 1900s, but only became a police station in 1970. In its heyday it had both uniformed and CID officers.

But the last shift finally clocked out in May 2014, the 25 officers based there moving into the city’s main police station in Lancaster Road North.

The building was sold by auction four months later for £382,000. The sale came just weeks after the city council refused permission for the premises to be used as a hub for charitable organisations.

The latest plan will see the removal of shutters at the front of the building, the re-alignment of a ramp at the front of the building, new windows and door frames and also pother external alteration