A TOTAL of 341 jobs are likely to move to Bridgwater under plans to shut Taunton Police Station.

A new station will be built near the county town centre - although a location has not been chosen - and the current Shuttern premises sold.

Frontline officers and senior managers will move to the Home Office-funded building when it opens in 2014, along with neighbourhood beat teams and front office workers, leaving about 130 staff in Taunton.

But Taunton will lose its 11 custody cells, road policing unit and control room, along with backroom jobs in areas like administration and finance.

Those facilities will move to an operations base at Express Business Park, on the outskirts of Bridgwater, which is viewed as more central for countywide operations.

Taunton-based Supt Trevor Margenout said: “Taunton Police Station isn’t necessarily fit for purpose, for example for disabled and witness access, and isn’t strategically well-placed.

“A lot of forces have centralised their operations and Bridgwater is a much more strategic location for taking prisoners from Taunton and Weston.

“We’re looking to relocate Taunton Police Station close to the town centre.

“These changes will release capacity in terms of Taunton and increase the police performance.”

The Express Business Park facility will have 36 cells. Yeovil will still take prisoners.

Anyone arrested in Taunton will be booked in by a Bridgwater-based team, freeing up officers from some time-consuming paperwork duties.

Supt Margenout added: “This is an exciting opportunity and the changes will release officers’ time to return more quickly to frontline policing.

“We’re at the start of the process and are holding consultations. It’s an opportunity to improve things.”

*For further reaction to this story, see today's Somerset County Gazette.