POLICE marked the beginning of a fresh era for Cheshire Constabulary with a lavish ceremony to celebrate taking possession of their new headquarters in Winsford.

Dignitaries including Vale Royal Borough Mayor Val Godfrey and Winsford Town Mayor Nick Harris gathered at the state-of-the-art building, which has been completed at Wood-ford Park.

They were there to witness the historic moment when Cheshire police's new headquarters was officially opened for business.

Police Authority chairman Peter Nurse said: 'This new building provides police officers and police staff with a much-needed and improved working environment which will enable them to give of their best.

'The impact of the centralisation of services and the changes in business processes on staff must not be underestimated - and the Police Authority will work closely with the chief constable to support staff and ensure a smooth transition during coming months.

'We hope this new building will mean a better service to the public.'

Staff have started to move into the headquarters, and Chief Constable Peter Fahy believes Cheshire police can now build on the promises made in 1999 to deliver a more efficient and cost-effective police service.

Mr Fahy said: 'The purpose of the new building is firmly to improve the service to the public - not to provide staff with plusher accommodation.

'Cheshire police is a complex organisation carrying out functions from dealing with stray dogs to counter-terrorism and everything in between, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.'

He added: 'We have many specialist units which at present are housed in many different buildings across Cheshire because of the inadequacies of our current headquarters.

'The new building will allow us to modernise our ways of working and ensure all those specialisms are working together to the common aim of making Cheshire safer.

'We will be able to streamline our administrative functions and over-heads so that maximum effort is directed at frontline services to the public.'

Mr Fahy said the force's priority was to deliver a better service to the people of Cheshire. He said the new premises will allow the constabulary to improve the way it deals with and responds to calls from the public.

The call management centre, currently housed in Warrington, will move into the purpose-built Winsford facilities, which are designed to meet the increasing demand placed on the constabulary from non-emergency inquiries.

The force has also invested in central deployment, which means the various divisional control rooms which currently handle calls requiring a police officer to be present, including emergency calls, are no longer needed.