THE sale of vacant police houses has netted Lancashire Police Authority more than £1million in the past 12 months.

In the last year the authority has sold 14 empty police houses in the county for £1,119,050 as part of their policy of off-loading vacant properties which are no longer needed for officer accommodation.

Since the policy was started by chief constable Pauline Clare five years ago the authority has sold 107 properties throughout Lancashire for £6.06m.

The money will go into existing police budgets.

The authority agreed in January 1996 that vacant police houses were no longer required for operational purposes and could be sold, either to the occupier or on the open market.

Lancashire Constabulary's Property Services Manager Steve Hodkinson said: "It made sense to start selling the vacant properties when we did because more and more police officers want to own their own homes.

"With the housing market so buoyant, buying is a good long term investment.

"When that started to happen many of the houses used to accommodate officers became vacant and we did not want to be left with a lot of empty properties -- which is why we are selling them off."

The constabulary still has 60 police houses in the county, five of which are vacant. They have been put up for sale on the open market through the constabulary's property consultants.