North Wales Police helicopter bases could close in bid to save money

North Wales could lose its helicopter bases as the the National Police Air Service (NPAS) looks to trim its number of operational bases from 20 to 15 in a bid to save cash.

The BBC are reporting that one-third of police helicopter bases in England and Wales could be closed because of government funding cuts, they say.

There are plans for three more police helicopter bases to be made available by September 2016, taking the total to 23 however the accountable manager for NPAS has told the BBC “difficult decisions” have to be made because of funding cuts.

NPAS is facing funding cuts of 14% in the next three years which is in addition to the 23% savings already made when NPAS was first launched in October 2012.

The accountable manager for the NPAS, Chief Superintendent Ian Whitehouse, said:

“There is no easy way to do this and difficult decisions have to be made.

“A benefit of the NPAS is that we have a far greater understanding of the demands placed upon police aviation and how to approach ‘borderless tasking’ i.e. how we best deploy the assets at our disposal to improve efficiency and effectiveness even more.”

North Wales has two NPAS bases Hawarden and Rhuddlan , Barton in Greater Manchester and Wharton in Lancashire are the two North West bases.