The History
In December 2015 Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston announced that 15 police stations were to be closed to the public in Essex as part of a £63million spending cut. Brentwood Police Station was one of 9 closing completely. He stated that the buildings were buildings were no longer fit for purpose.
"Police officers, not buildings, fight crime," Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said.
"We spend too much on too many police buildings, many of which are either no longer fit for policing or are hardly used by the public to report crime.
Bentwood Police station closed to the public in April 2016, and was vacated in December 2017. Operations have now moved to the local Town Hall. The building was closed as it cost £10million per year in running costs, and would have cost a further £30million in maintenance to bring it up to standard.
Kemsley LLP announced the marketing of Brentwood Police Station for proposed residential development. The site extends to approximately 2.75 acres and a planning application is to be submitted for 70-100 dwellings as part new build, part conversion of existing buildings.
The Explore
I visited this one with @DRZ_Explorer, he picked me up and we headed off to the land of orange faced girls and the infamous Sugar Hut.
Taking the opportunity to cheekily park in the nearby BT offices we abandoned the car and walked over to the police station. On approaching it we were surprised to see the lights on and expected it to still be occupied. So we approached the building cautiously and peered in through the windows. It was obvious right away that it was empty so we found an open window and hopped in.
Sadly it was fairly well stripped but it still had some nice parts, the old courtroom, the cells, the staircases and of course the external views of the building are pretty nice too
Enjoy the pics
