POLICE have drawn up a shorlist of sites for their new multi-million pound divisional headquarters.

In the list is a section of the former Rainbows End site off Crostons Road currently being developed by Dixon Ford to accommodate a state-of-the-art showroom and workshop due to open in the autumn.

The Crostons Road site would be ideal for the borough's police as it close to the town centre and accessible to the public.

Police chiefs announced last year that the current headquarters in Irwell Street, the tallest building in the borough, was outdated after 32 years of use. It was also riddled with asbestos which has only recently been removed from the structure.

Chief Superintendent Phil Hollowood confirmed an interest in the Dixon Ford site.

He said: "We have identified the Crostons Road site as a possible location for the new divisional headquarters.

"However, we have a number of other preferred locations, about eight or nine sites that we are looking at including Pyramid Park, land in the Fairfield area and, of course, our existing HQ which could be demolished and rebuilt in Irwell Street.

"We are keeping our options open at this stage and it will be some time before any decision is taken on where we will be based in the future."

Any new building would need to be large enough to accommodate 300 police and support staff as well as the dog and horse units.