Police confirm plans for £16 million firearms training centre

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion said the centre would be built at the force's Worcestershire headquarters.

The proposal, which would cost £16.74 million and take about three years to build, is subject to planning permission.

The centre will feature a 50 metre indoor range, a building search facility training area, and a training school with classrooms.

West Mercia Police said it requires access to a facility of a certain standard in order to maintain compliance with national standards around officer training.

A statement said: "This is vital to ensure that the force can call upon the full range of high quality policing services when they are needed in local communities.

"This investment is part of a wider, long-term plan into the police estate, ensuring that West Mercia Police has the right resources in place and efficiencies are made in order to reinvest in frontline service delivery."

Mr Campion said the centre would ensure that officers' training was of the highest standard.

He said: “West Mercia is thankfully a low crime area where police firearms deployment is relatively rare, however this new state of the art facility is vital to ensuring that West Mercia Police can continue to keep communities safe.

"Police firearms training is quite rightly undertaken to exceptionally high standards in West Mercia.

"This facility will ensure those high standards can be built on for generations to come.

“As the custodian of the police estate, I made a commitment to ensure that it receives the right level of investment and is aligned to operational needs.

"This state of the art facility is the right once in a generation investment in police firearms training in West Mercia.”

West Mercia Police Chief Constable Pippa Mills said the development was vital for future training at the force.

She said: "We welcome the investment in our firearms training facility which reinforces our commitment to deliver an excellent service and keep our communities safe.

"As the public would quite rightly expect, firearms officers are trained to exceptionally high standards and it is vital we are able to continue to do this with modern facilities that are fit for purpose and suitably equip our officers to face the challenges of armed policing."