First Look Inside Wrexham’s New Town Centre Police Station

The proposed exterior of Wrexham’s new Town Centre Police Station has been known for a while… today we can show you how the interior will look!

With the demolition of the old police station due in August 2016, a new smaller facility is to be built at the old Library Arts Centre (former Oriel Gallery), with a section of new frontage being built to house office space and a new reception areas.

The newly lodged planning application states up to 99 people could work at the new police station, with the hours of operation unsurprisingly stated as 24/7. The facility will allow operational response, investigation offices and ‘touch down’ facilities for community police officers.

The new feature extension will be over two floors, with the lower housing a new reception area with counter service space and a private interaction room. Upstairs the new extension will contain three new offices.

Previously local MP Ian Lucas has been critical over the loss of cells for the Magistrates Court, raising the question in the House of Commons and on twitter. The plans of the new facility put to Wrexham Council indicate that although there are four interview rooms there does not appear to be any traditional ‘cells’. The separate new facility being built in Llay will have a 32-cell custody suite.

Upstairs sees new office facilities with around 40 new desk spaces, of various sizes, with the Inspector having his or her own private office, the largest individual office in the building. Many familiar with the current exhibition space will note that a new floor is being inserted in the current large void to enable the development.

The plans include a reduction of five parking spaces, but the creation of 20 new spaces for bikes. The application does note that there is no provision to park ‘large police vehicles’.

The new town centre facility will not be the only new building serving Wrexham, with the main new station being built out in Llay – you can see the plans, pictures and further details on that huge development by clicking here.

The police station move from Bodyfryd to the Library and Llay is part of a merry go round that could see several changes to the town centre, some firm, some rumoured and some dependant on funding.

The current police station is due to be pulled down next year, and the site left tarmaced with a 2 meter fence surrounding it.

The old police station will soon be at the centre of a large town centre site, with uncertain futures for the Magistrates Court and Crown Buildings. Waterworld was thought to be under threat, however after a u-turn was found to be ‘viable’ for many more years, with a replacement deemed ‘unaffordable’.

The Oriel has already begun its ‘nomadic journey‘ from the Library, with a new Arts Hub in the Peoples Market the intended destination. The latter has yet to be finalised, with traders in the market unhappy at the lack of substance in the communication of plans and updates, with further criticism of it apparently being a done deal.

As of yet there is no indication to the future plans for the vacant police station site, or if a developer will look to join up the above area in to one huge town centre development area.

The Council is working on a ‘masterplan’ with the date ‘Wrexham 2025’ in its title images however there is little public information on its contents as of yet due to its ‘infancy’ , and our invitation to hold a public Q&A via Wrexham.com on the topic remains open.