POLICE have assured rural communities it will be ‘business as usual’ for officers despite temporarily moving out of their village base.

Officers currently based at Stanhope, in Weardale, will work out of Crook police station over the summer ahead of a move to new premises in the village.

The team will leave its current office in Durham Dales Centre on Friday, April 24, and be based at Crook until its new office in the village centre is ready.

The new building is in Front Street, adjacent to and owned by the Church of St Thomas the Apostle, and is expected to open in late summer or early autumn subject to planning consent.

Michelle March, head of the Durham force’s estate department, said: “Officers have had a base on the first floor of the Dales Centre for several years but as the lease required renewal we have taken the opportunity to find another office which is on the ground floor, has better access and is easily visible.

“Some minor work will have to be carried out at the new premises, which is a listed building, before the team moves in and the necessary planning approval is being sought.”

Sergeant Adam Howell, of the neighbourhood beat team, said: “It is business as usual for the policing team based at Stanhope.

“Local people can be confident that although the team will be based at Crook while the work on the new office is underway, it is simply a base and they will be policing their patch in the way they usually would, delivering the best service they can to the community.”

Police and Communities Together (PACT) meetings will continue at the usual venues.

The police non-emergency number is 101.