Government funding police college

The college will be built at this site in Cookstown

The government plans to provide all the funding for a new policing college, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has announced.

The £130m college is to be built at a site in Cookstown, County Tyrone.

However, it has been delayed because the government was not prepared to commit all the money needed.

Mr Hain's proposal, which needs Treasury approval, means police officers, firefighters and prison officers will train on the same site.

Until now, each service had wanted to build its own training centre.

The new college will be built on a 210-acre site beside a food science centre at Desertcreat on the outskirts of Cookstown.

Announcing details of the new college, Mr Hain said: "We have agreed a way forward in respect of a key Patten recommendation, the provision of a police college.

"In what we believe is a first across the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland will combine its police, prison service and fire and rescue training in a purpose-built state of the art college.

"This is an exciting opportunity which will not only enable the original Patten vision in respect of policing training to be achieved, but will provide scope for all three services to enjoy modern training facilities."

Change of plan

The police college would have cost around £130m, the fire service had planned a centre costing around £30m and the prison service hoped to build new facilities costing up to £10m.

That would have been a total cost of £170m - but the integrated college could be built for about £130m.

An integrated college is not what the Policing Board had originally planned, but government sources have said it will be state-of-the art and among the best of its kind in Europe.

After more than three years of waiting, the board is likely to give the announcement a warm welcome.

The project still needs final approval from the Treasury - but discussions have already taken place and Mr Hain is believed to be expecting a positive response.

If he gets it, work could finally start next year.

It is envisaged the complex would have accommodation for more than 300 people, 40 classrooms and purpose built villages to train officers in a variety of real life situations.

The college was a key recommendation in the Patten Report on police reform.