SELLING off large swathes of police-owned land will be a blessing, not a curse, according to Marlow’s top policeman.

Thames Valley Police revealed this month it intends to put parts of Marlow’s Dean Street police station up for sale as the force looks to save millions after deep cuts.

And while the purpose-built 1960s station would be demolished under the plans, head of Marlow neighbourhood team Inspector Scott Messenger said a new, fit for purpose office would be a welcome move for the town.

He said: “It used to be a big, busy hub of a police station and now it’s just the neighbourhood team and some specialist departments visiting there.

“It is all about protecting front line policing so from our point of view moving into a smaller, purpose built police station and maintaining officer numbers is what we want.”

TVP says it must make savings of £44.6m over the next three years, on top of the £58.9m shaved off its budget since 2011/12.

Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld told the BFP that even if the force didn’t need to make huge savings, changes to front line policing would still need to be made.

He said many stations are out of date for modern policing needs, and that the days of visiting police stations to report crimes are over as technology plays a bigger role.

Senior officers said parts of the Dean Street station would be retained for a smaller police office and the rest sold to developers if the plan goes ahead.

And Insp Messenger said with changes to policing in the county over the years, downsizing would suit his team of eight PCSOs and six PCs based at Marlow.

He said: “To be honest, we rattle around in there, when the station was built, a traffic policing unit worked from there, CID working upstairs and response officers downstairs.

“We have a cell block there we don’t use and can’t do anything with it either. What we really need now is a purpose built office, good broadband and enough parking.”

A series of other closures sees an end to costly leased accommodation such as Bourne End’s neighbourhood office, which will be surrendered to save nearly £25,000 a year.

And other sites including Gerrards Cross and Chesham will be ‘replaced locally’ over the next five years.