SALISBURY has lost its battle to keep a custody unit.

Police bosses will set up cells in Warminster to serve the south of the county, subject to a study.

Former chief constable Patrick Geenty promised to resign if the city did not get a custody suite.

Now he has all but retired and it has been decided cells in Salisbury would not be “cost effective or sustainable”.

The news was announced on Tuesday afternoon, more than a week earlier than planned and just six hours after police commissioner Angus Macpherson told the Journal he had not seen a report naming Warminster as the preferred option.

The Journal learned of the news on Monday morning and began making enquiries.

On Tuesday we quizzed Mr Macpherson in the Guildhall Square and were told by the commissioner that he did not know where the custody unit was to be built, because the report had not yet been produced.

He said: “This is where the Journal seems to know an awful lot more than I do.”

But just six hours later, a press statement on behalf of Mr Macpherson and the new Chief Constable Mike Veale was sent out confirming Warminster was best placed to serve south Wiltshire.

The review recognised the current transport of prisoners to Melksham was proving too expensive (Journal investigations discovered it was costing more than £300,000 a year), and concluded that Warminster was better placed strategically.

The force can only afford two custody suites in the county and must keep the one in Swindon due to contractual obligations under a private finance initiative.

Bosses claimed the Swindon and Melksham sites were “under-used” and a Salisbury suite would only be at 16 per cent capacity.

They concluded it was acceptable to travel for between 30 and 60 minutes from arrest to custody.

Driving from Salisbury to Warminster takes around 45 minutes, and building cells in the town would mean “99 per cent of all detainees” would be transported within that time.

A key advantage would be that Wiltshire’s police could then collaborate with Avon and Somerset Police.

The statement said: “We cannot justify going back to our previous three-unit custody model because of the heavy costs involved.

“If we were to build another unit in Salisbury we would need to have a three-unit model to ensure acceptable standards of delivery across the county, whilst other forces are looking at having one custody unit.”

Chief constable Mike Veale said he was confident it was the right decision, but MP John Glen disagreed, describing the move as “terribly disappointing”.

He said: “This review has not been handled well. Many people in Salisbury feel very let down by it and I’m sympathetic to their view.”

Solicitor Richard Griffiths said he was relieved police had recognised south Wiltshire needed its own custody suite, but said Amesbury was a better choice given the number of military personnel coming to the area.

The feasibility study is expected to last until the end of 2015.