ILKLEY Police Station is closing its doors to the public as the West Yorkshire force tightens up on spending.

The Riddings Road police station has closed its public helpdesk following a force-wide review of how the public make contact with the police. Since 2013 the Ilkley help desk has only been one day a week. Police say the same amount of police officers will continue to be based in the area and the change will free up resources which will be used to increase front line policing in communities.

West Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable, John Robins said: “It’s well known that the Force’s budget must still be significantly reduced over the next four years and it is crucial that we continue to consider how best to use our resources to keep people safe and feeling safe.

“The survey and our own analysis highlights that in many of our current police stations, only a few people use public Help Desks each day and a significant number of them are attending pre-arranged appointments with officers. The vast majority of people are actually contacting us through other means.

“It is clearly not efficient to have public Help Desks open when they are not being used.

“We are still committed to providing a service that is visible and accessible through frontline officers and PCSOs and that meets the needs of our communities.

“The changes will have no impact on front line operational policing or our ability to respond to those who need us.”

The public survey was undertaken by West Yorkshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to better understand how people contact the Force and how aware they are of the different contact channels available.

The work showed that an overwhelming majority now contact the police by phone, at local meetings, online and through social media, whilst the numbers attending police stations have fallen considerably over recent years.

The survey carried out earlier this year showed that 91 per cent of respondents had not used a public help desk in the last 12 months, with 61 per cent having never used one at all.

Other areas losing the public help desk are Weetwood, Killingbeck, Morley, Lawcroft House (Bradford), Eccleshill and Shipley. Keighley Police Station will remain open 8am to 10pm, Monday to Friday and 8am to 8pm, Saturday and Sundays, closed on Bank Holidays. Bradford District HQ (Trafalgar House, Bradford) is also open 8am to 10pm – Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm – Saturday and Sundays, 10am to 6pm - Bank Holidays.

A range of options are available for people to contact West Yorkshire Police including dial 999 in an emergency where there is a danger to life, use, or immediate threat of violence, serious injury to a person; and/or serious damage to property; the website at www.westyorkshire.police.uk; the ‘live chat’ facility on the Force’s website - www.westyorkshire.police.uk/ClickB4UCall or dial 101 for non-emergencies.

For those who are deaf or hard of hearing in addition to live chat you can also register for the ‘EmergencySMS’ service – for more information visit www.emergencysms.org.uk or www.rnid.org.uk/esms . For non-emergencies use mobile text phone 07786 200 200 or Typetalk 18001 101.

Every police station in West Yorkshire has a yellow telephone outside which can be used free of charge and links directly to staff in the police control centre.