Salisbury’s Wiltshire Council offices and police station will close for up to eight weeks for decontamination.

The Bourne Hill offices will close to staff and public from Friday.

The decontamination work will focus on two locations in Bourne Hill which were sealed off following the incident on 4 March.

The evidence store and two lockers are potentially contaminated and will require testing and the removal of items and cleaning.

Other areas of the building will be cleaned as a precautionary measure.

Both the police and council’s front line services will be relocated locally to enable the work to be carried out.

A first point of contact to access both police and council services will be located at Salisbury Library.

Council teams and services will move to Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre.

Salisbury community policing teams are likely to be working out of Five Rivers with CID and some other specialist teams likely to work from nearby stations at Amesbury, Alderbury and Wilton.

There will be a slight reduction in police services at the temporary front desk, primarily related to surrendering firearms.

Alistair Cunningham, chairman of the recovery coordinating group, said: “This clean-up work at Bourne Hill will bring the two potentially contaminated locations in the building back into use.

“The process will take up to eight weeks, and during this time, the building will be closed to staff and the public. Services will be provided at alternative venues.

"The old building, including the Registrar Office will remain open and the services located here, including the registrar services, will continue to be accessed through the main entrance at the front of the registry offices.”

Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Paul Mills said: “Our number one priority is to bring the potentially contaminated sites back into use as soon as possible.

​"This has been an unprecedented situation in Salisbury and working with the council and other local and national agencies we are supporting the work that’s required to help Salisbury recover and return to normal.

“We are continuing to work to ensure that any impact on the delivery of frontline policing services in the city as a result of this temporary relocation is kept to a minimum.

“Alistair and I would like to thank staff and customers for their patience during this time.”