Sale of Bramshill

Reacting to the announcement by the Home Secretary today that the Police Staff College is to be placed on the market, Derek Barnett President of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales said;

"The Police Staff College at Bramshill is a long established, iconic and internationally renowned centre of policing excellence. It attracts police leaders from across the world and generates significant overseas income. It is also influential in parts of the world where the UK is key to developing the British model of policing based on the principles of Sir Robert Peel.

In recent years a significant amount of money has been invested to create facilities for command training and the management of serious and critical incidents such as the riots in London last year and more recently the severe floods across England and Wales.

Whilst I understand the challenging financial situation, I am disappointed to learn of the decision just at the time the new College of Policing has been established. I hope that the Home Secretary will allow the Board of the newly created College of Policing to explore alternative funding solutions before such a valuable and iconic asset is lost to the police service. However, if no alternative can be found, the proceeds of the sale of such a policing asset should be reinvested to create an international standard home of police training that befits a world class police service.