POLICE stations across Essex could be sold to help the county’s force make crucial budget savings.

Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle said he would not rule out the sale of some stations to help the constabulary make cuts of £50million over the next four years.

Mr Barker-McCardle said money raised from the sale of stations could be used to plough back into protecting frontline policing.

He said: “Selling property releases capital and over the next four years what we are talking about is reducing revenue.

“That said, obviously, if you reduce the number of buildings you have, you reduce the running costs and that produces capital that I’m then able to invest in policing of the future.”

Police have already slashed opening hours at stations in Pitsea, Billericay, Wickford, Corringham and Tilbury in the south of the county to save cash.

But the county’s top officer said the force may now have to look for “imaginative” ways to keep local police on the cheap.

He said a pilot, already being trialled in Tiptree where bobbies are using office space in the local fire station, could be rolled out across Essex.

Mr Barker-McCardle explained: “We don’t want to centralise officers in a way that withdraws police from the public and create a remote organisation – that is not a good plan. But where we can find an opportunity to share property with other agencies, then that enables us to sell property or someone else in the public sector can sell a property, and that seems to be a good thing.

“The Tiptree pilot seems to be a good way of addressing at least some of the budget pressures and ensures we can keep police officers local.

“I suspect some people will say it will be a shame to close their local police station, but this is an age where we have to be more imaginative.

“We want to keep cops local if we can. I would much rather have them working out of a fire station than have them not working locally at all.”

Mr Barker-McCardle said the force would be honest with residents about the future sale of any Essex police stations.

The Chief Constable will present his “blueprint for policing in Essex”, which will encompass the restructure, to the police authority in January. That is when we may see exactly how he will make cuts.