
Several police stations in the New Forest will be open longer hours in a bid to improve the service the police provide to both residents and visitors.
The changes come as a result of reviewing station opening times to ensure that the front counter service is available to members of the public at peak times, when the stations tend to receive most of their callers.
From Monday, March 1 the stations in Hythe, Totton, Lyndhurst, Ringwood and New Milton will open from 9am until 5pm from Monday to Thursday and from 9am until 4.30pm on Fridays. These stations will close for 30 minutes for lunch between 12.45pm and 1.15pm.
Lymington Police Station will be open even longer, opening daily at 9am and closing at 7pm. This station will close for lunch for 45 minutes between 1.15 and 2pm.
In addition, Totton Police Station will now be open on Saturdays between 10am and 4pm.
New Forest Chief Inspector Gary Cooper, said:
“We hope these changes will provide an improved service to the communities of the New Forest, giving them greater access to our staff.
We strive to provide an excellent service and this includes being more accessible at peak times, so that people are able to come along and visit their local police station to voice any concerns or queries they may have.”
Visitors to the police stations will also be able to pick up a copy of their local police team's neighbourhood report to find out what is happening in their area.
All the new opening times for the New Forest police stations will be advertised on the Hampshire Constabularly website.