A police front counter is shutting, leaving "disappointed" residents to travel around 30 minutes to the nearest police station.
The Essex Police desk, which is based at the offices at Uttlesford District Council, in London Road, Saffron Walden, is set to close "at a date to be decided".
This will mean residents in the town will need to travel to Stansted Airport Police Station, which is a 28-minute drive and 14 miles away. It also means there will be one police station in the whole of the Uttlesford district.
The closure was announced at a full council meeting at Uttlesford District Council on April 22.
Petrina Lees, Residents for Uttlesford, the authority’s leader, said: "We welcome that Essex Police has decided to reverse the decision of PSCOs, but we are disappointed, as I am sure everyone here is, that the police front desk will be closing in Saffron Walden."
This announcement comes after Essex Police announced plans to cut 99 police community support officers and make up to 60 other members of staff redundant due to a funding shortfall of £5.3 million after savings.
The plans sparked anger, which saw a u-turn in the plans for the officers from the force.
Essex Police is expected to announce more information about the Saffron Walden front counter in the future.
The force’s front counters are run by police staff as the officers are patrolling neighbourhoods and investigating crime.
An Essex Police spokesperson: "The money we receive goes first and foremost into visible neighbourhood and local policing.
READ MORE
- Vehicles stolen during Saffron Walden burglaries
- Drink driver from Great Chesterford called police after crashing car on roundabout
"We have prioritised neighbourhood patrols and crime investigations because that’s what people say they want and that’s what we are funded to do through the neighbourhood policing guarantee.
"Crime is down in Essex, and we want to keep it that way. For years now, when you call 999 in an emergency, officers respond from their location within neighbourhoods – they’re not all in the police station, they’re patrolling."
Stansted Airport Police Station, now the nearest, is based in Enterprise House, Bassingbourn Road, Stansted and is open 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm Saturday to Sunday.
Share