NEIGHBOURS in a residential area are celebrating after learning that plans to build a police custody suite on waste land near their homes have been abandoned.

A front-page story in the Star highlighted residents' oppposition to the proposed 22-cell 'mini prison' on land in Atlas Street, Pocket Nook.

And now St Helens Council has withdrawn the sale of land as a result of "public pressure".

One of residents who opposed the suite on the grounds that it would devalue their properties and bring traffic disruption to the area, Anne Davies, from nearby Vernon Street, told the Star: "We are all elated with this decision and we would like to thank Councillor Mark Arnold and the Star for their support".

Councillor Arnold, who backed the residents' campaign, said that the council had withdrawn the sale of the waste land following the high level of public opposition. He said: "Fellow councillors, John Fletcher, Jeff Molyneux and I talked to everyone in the area to get their views on the proposal, but even after having visited other custodial suites in the Merseyside area, residents still opposed the proposals.

"We listened to the residents' fears and the council decided to withdraw the land from sale. We are now in the process of looking for an alternative site with Merseyside Police, where a custodial suite would have less impact on local residents".

Merseyside Police have now been advised by the council to withdraw their planning application although at the time of going to press, they had not done so.

Supintendent Richard Williams, area commander for St Helens Police, commented: "We are disappointed that St Helens Council have withdrawn the sale of the land for the purpose of building a centralised custody suite. The custody suite would have enabled us to make better use of our present facilities at College Street and we had intended to base the town-centre and Fingerpost neighbourhood officers at Atlas Street.

"I believe the custody suite would have proved beneficial to local residents because generally when you place a police building in an area, you find that crime levels decrease".

And he added: "We will now have to reassess the situation and will be looking to liaise with local residents and partner agencies about other potential sites".