CHANGES are being made to Darlington police station because of a shortage of space for operations.

A lack of office space, plus the need for a communications centre to house updated radio equipment, has created the need for the redevelopment plans.

One of the main changes will be the closure of the club and bar in the station.

The room will be converted into a dedicated major incident room and briefing room and will not be replaced.

Garages at the rear of the station are being converted into locker rooms, and the present briefing room will become an area where officers can parade before going on shift.

A spokesman for Durham police confirmed that the welfare club will close on June 1.

He said about 400 people, including past and present police officers, are able to use the club, but not enough people take advantage of it.

"There is a chronic shortage of spaces for operational police officers within the station and it has become increasingly difficult to continue to set aside one large area for a welfare club in the face of this pressure," the spokesman said.

"The club itself is currently under-used and the committee was invited to look for alternative accommodation, which they have not been able to come up with. The area occupied by the welfare club will be transformed into a dedicated major incident room and briefing room."

The spokesman said that the jobs of two people who work in the club are being reviewed.

The room currently used for major incidents has been earmarked as an upgraded communications centre, which will house new radio equipment when it is made available later this year. A contract signed by Durham Constabulary in January this year will sweep aside the force's existing analogue radio network, replacing it with a more modern, more effcient version.

Every officer involved in core policing will be issued with the new hand-held radios, which can double up as a mobile telephone.

It will be almost impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on the encrypted transmissions.