THE old blue lamp is on the way out as part of sweeping changes to take policing into the 21st century.

Outdated police stations would go as part of Greater Manchester Police Authority's county-wide review aimed at increasing efficiency and ensuring uniformed officers are out and about in the community.

For Wigan's L Division, those proposals mean creating new divisional headquarters, and for Leigh sub-division a new station covering Atherton, Tyldesley and Hindley.

The Police Authority is suggesting stations like Edwardian-styled Hindley would get the chop this year along with the under-used Golborne station.

Tyldesley is also earmarked for closure with new strategic police posts planned.

Police Authority chairman Cllr Stephen Murphy said:"The Authority faces a potential future maintenance and refurbishment bill of more than £100m. We need to make best use of our buildings and cater for the operational needs in the future."

Reassuring the public of the commitment to maintain and improve the quality of policing in the area Chief Constable David Wilmot said:"There are very real concerns about what will happen if a police station closes.

"I understand those concerns but it is the firmly held belief of the force and the Police Authority that uniform police personnel should provide a high visibility within the community and spend as little time as police within police stations.

"Whatever changes take place we will ensure there is no adverse effect on the operational delivery of the police service."

Leigh Chief Inspector Brian Wroe explained the good-housekeeping reasoning behind the proposals.

"We have a variety of options over the next 10 years and things we want to put in place very quickly - within 12 months.

"A lot of our buildings are antiquated and unsuited to modern-day demands."

He explained that efficient, cost effective policing was the aim:"The more money we can save, the more available for front-line policing."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.