BLACKBURN'S new town centre police station on the Boulevard will open its doors to the public for the first time tomorrow.

Even though the new premises will not be open 24-hours, unlike the old Northgate station whose front-desk was manned around the clock, police said they will offer the people of Blackburn the same level of service.

Richard Newton was one of the first to be given a guided tour of the new premises at Blackburn railway station...

IT is 2.30am and a cold, biting wind is blowing along the deserted Boulevard past Blackburn Cathedral. A scared, young girl is breathlessly talking to a police officer on a telephone positioned outside the main entrance to the police's new premises at Blackburn Railway Station.

She replaces the handset and walks through the opening automatic door into the warmth.

Chief Superintendent John Thompson, Divisional Commander for Eastern Division, said this is the new 'safe haven' that will ensure the safety of those in danger.

"They can talk to an officer in the new Greenbank Station, in Whitebirk. The officer can see them on the CCTV camera and let them in, closing the door behind them to wait for an officer to arrive.

"The station is not manned 24-hours because we do not detain people here, the cells are at the new Greenbank building.

"We couldn't keep staff here around the clock because it's not cost effective. What we've done here is in line with every other station in Lancashire."

The station is manned between the hours of 8am and 8pm from Sunday and Monday and between 8am and midnight from Thursday to Saturday.

And he said he believed that the new opening times at the Boulevard station, and the £7.3million out-of-town Greenbank station, will not distance the police from the public - a fear expressed by Blackburn MP Jack Straw when he opened Greenbank last week.

"I do not think it is a big issue. In the past when people visited the old Northgate station, out of main hours, it was usually friends and relatives visiting detained people.

"There's a myth that police officers wait in the station for people to ring up, they are in fact always on the beat and go to calls from wherever they are.

"We also get very few people out of main hours, the only other ones are the occasional taxi driver bringing in his documents.

"We have the safe haven and the phone system to ensure the people of Blackburn feel safe, but I don't think it will be used that often.

"I worked in Lancaster and Morecambe previously and I don't remember those being used much."

The new £600,000 premises, built within the recently redeveloped railway station, not only provides the public with a visually attractive, stylish environment - many of the original girders and beams in the listed building have been preserved, but it gives them a purpose-built environment, which they said is a great improvement on the old Northgate station.

Sergeant Phil Davies, 38, is the town centre sergeant in charge of 12 officers operating from the new station.

He said: "The old Northgate building was just not suitable anymore. The new building is a great improvement. It is right at the heart of the town centre and gives people, who don't have cars great access, as we are right next to the train and bus stations."

Mr Thompson agreed. He said: "We have a brand new enquiry desk with a door that closes behind, which means that people can hold private conversations, in Northgate it was just one large room.

"We've also got two interview rooms, numerous offices, two large locker rooms, staff kitchens and toilets and conference facilities spread over three floors. We just had to move from Northgate, the building just couldn't cope with what we wanted, we took on more staff a while back and the building was just too small.

Community support officer Nigel Brooke, 54, joined the force a week ago and will work from the new premises. The former traffic warden said: "The facilities here are great, apart from the way they look, which should make everyone feel relaxed, they are a lot less cramped than Northgate.

"It is also very easy for us because we can use public transport to get about, but it means the public without cars can reach us easily too."

The new Boulevard station will open tomorrow, but staff will still be present at Northgate to inform people of the move and to handle enquiries.