PRUDHOE Community Partnership has unveiled its plans to turn Prudhoe’s former police station into flats.

Northumbria Police moved out of the police station on Front Street in November last year and took up residence in the town’s Spetchells Centre.

The station building has now been put on the market and is advertised for offers in the region of £175,000.

Northumbria Police said the proceeds from the sale would be put back into policing.

And last week, community-led charity Prudhoe Community Partnership announced it would be submitting a bid for the building.

George Hepburn, chairman of trustees at the partnership, said its plan involved knocking down the police station and building eight flats in its place.

The flats, four upstairs and four downstairs, would be available to rent for local people through social housing provider Karbon Homes, which would lease the buildings and manage them on behalf of the partnership.

“We are interested in providing more affordable housing for people in Prudhoe,” explained Mr Hepburn.

“We think there’s a great shortage of rented accommodation in Prudhoe – last year there were 276 applications for 31 flats in the town.

“We think it’s a great opportunity to provide more flats for local people.”

Mr Hepburn said the new flats would look like a row of terraced houses. The existing wall and railings to the front of the building would be retained and parking would be provided to the back of the properties.

The designs, by HMH Architects, were on display at the Spetchells Centre on Saturday and Monday to gather residents’ views.

“The reaction was extremely positive,” added Mr Hepburn. “People were fully in support of the scheme and liked the idea of homes for rent.

“There was some disappointment about the old police station, as there’s much affection for it, but sadly the numbers just don’t add up for what we want to build – there would be too many problems converting that into housing up to today’s standards.”

The plan would require support from Northumberland County Council through its Community Housing Fund, a project which has received funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to help develop more community-led housing projects.

If its bid is accepted, Prudhoe Community Partnership will then be required to submit a planning application to Northumberland County Council.