Braintree police division headquarters will be staying in the town, it has been revealed.

The Braintree boys in blue will get nearly £6 million of central Government cash to spend on upgrading existing facilities - built just seven years ago at a cost of £3.3 million.

About half the Home Office handout will be spent turning Braintree police station into the permanent headquarters after plans for a move to Dunmow were scrapped.

Braintree district councillor Tony Meadows said: "I obviously welcome the news. No disrespect to Dunmow but Braintree is a far more important town.

"The police in Braintree at the moment are so busy and under-staffed that any injection of money must help."

The Government money had originally been earmarked to shift HQ to the ancient Flitch town to cope with the extra workload expected as Stansted Airport grows.

Braintree Supt Peter Sheldrake said: "Braintree will remain the divisional headquarters because it continues to be the centre of crime and incidents.

"It did not make good police sense to move to Dunmow so the Government has approved the development of this existing site."

Mr Sheldrake said new facilities at Braintree would be built inwards from the existing hexagon-shaped police station.

Dunmow will also still get a brand new police station and chiefs are currently looking at a potential site for the development. They hope to buy the land soon and start building early next year.

The station will be built to allow for further extensions at a later date to meet the demands of a growing Stansted.

Developments in Braintree look set to start later in 2001.

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