RESIDENTS have backed plans to buy the historic Chipping Norton police station and turn it into a museum and community hub.

The Victorian building in London Road is up for sale by Thames Valley Police and will be vacated next year.

To stop it from being turned into housing, residents have voted to make a bid and may move artefacts from the town museum there if successful.

Town mayor Mike Tysoe said: “It’s a unique building and if the town doesn’t buy it then no doubt it will go to a developer and be turned into flats.

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“We’ve lost control of various buildings that have belonged to the town for the last 100 years.

“There’s a strong feeling that we should try to buy the building and use it for something, such as to put the town museum in there and make it a community centre.”

The police force, which spends about £70,000 maintaining the building, announced in July last year it planned to sell and move into more efficient premises.

It has also closed the Kidlington and Wood Farm police stations, and plans to sell stations in Wallingford, Wantage, Woodstock and Thame.

More than 100 people attended a town hall public meeting last month and Mr Tysoe said residents voted overwhelmingly to make a bid.

He said it could cost more than £1m to buy and refurbish the 1860s building, which includes original features such as its cells.

He said funding possibilities could include a community share scheme.

Should the community be able to buy, the building could also be rented to private firms to bring in revenue.

The museum, which chronicles the history of the town, is currently based on the second floor above Beales department store in High Street.

Mr Tysoe said: “It’s up four flights of stairs and is run by some senior citizens who can find it difficult to get up there, like many visitors.

“It has very static displays but is very interesting with a lot of archive material. If we moved it to the police station it would be more accessible and open up new opportunities.”

Pauline Watkins, of the Chipping Norton History Society, which runs the museum, said some members were concerned the police station site is further from the town centre.

But she said: “The benefits are the disabled access, which we do not have at present. There is nearly twice as much space as we have now and we are running out of space where we are.

“It would seem more like a museum and not a room above a shop.”

 

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