CALLS have been made to put Richmond police station's cells back into regular use.

District councillors said they were concerned at the inefficiency of having to transport people arrested in Richmond to cells at Northallerton or Harrogate.

Chairman Coun Jill McMullon told the community and environment committee on Tuesday: "I spent an evening with the police and I was quite horrified at how long it took to take arrested people to cells. It seemed to take officers off the street for up to three hours and meant they had to weigh up whether to arrest someone or not."

Chief supt Bernie Mitchell, who attended the meeting, said: "The cells are opened on certain occasions when we anticipate a high rate of arrests but it has to be planned in advance."

He said the policy would be up for review in the future and the district council would be welcome to have an input.

Sgt Mick Griffiths, of Richmondshire police, said manning the cells posed problems. He said: "During Richmond Meet, the station was open for

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