BLACKBURN'S cramped police HQ is to be put up for sale within the next two years as part of a £7.9million scheme to create a new heaquarters close to the M65.

The listed Victorian building in Northgate, which formerly belonged to the GPO, has been used by the police for more than a century but has long been overcrowded and a question mark now hangs over its future.

The building also has access and parking problems. After years of looking at the various options the preferred alternative is to build a new headquarters at Whitebirk industrial estate and a smaller police station in the town centre, with work expected to start in the autumn.

The building will act as a headquarters for the Eastern Division which covers Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

The new centre will house a custody suite complete with 42 cells which can be used to house prisoners from across the area.

The new building will also house CID, the division's communications centre and operational policing and intelligence gathering units.

Police are planning to build a small in-town station in Simmons Street after demolishing the existing police garage on the site.

Behind the scenes negotiations have been taking place with Blackburn with Darwen Council over land at Whitebirk.

The police have agreed to buy the land for £440,000 provided they get planning permission for the scheme.

Talks have also been taking place with Hyndburn Council, the planning authority for Whitebirk. Chief Superintendent Eddie Walsh, the head of police in Eastern Division, said: "Quite simply we have outgrown the building and it makes sense for us to move.

"The nature of the building means that it is very difficult to refurbish it and simply too costly.

"It will be up to our property people to sort out the future of the building but perhaps an organisation in the town like the council or the college might be interested in using the building."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "The building belongs to the police so it is up to them how they dispose of it, as for our interest it would be far too early to comment on the matter."

Nobody at Blackburn College was available to comment.

If all goes to plan work on the project should start in November and will take about 18 months.

Mr Walsh added: "The new headquarters will be more centrally located to serve the whole division but I can assure people that policing in Blackburn town centre will be unaffected."