THIS week has brought a great deal of reaction to the Chief Constable’s announcement that he may consider locating a future custody suite outside Salisbury.

Like the majority of my correspondents, I was shocked and more than a little disappointed to hear that he is considering reneging on his promise.

I consider this a betrayal of the pledge he made to me and to the people of Salisbury – not least because there has been no shift in government policy or funding to account for it.

I cannot be the only person surprised to hear that the police have apparently been blindsided by the discovery that there were some industrial contaminants on the old engine shed site that needed to be addressed before building could commence.

The costs associated with this discovery are giving them second thoughts – and that is fair.

But what is not fair is to have blithely made concrete promises to the people of Salisbury without first completing due diligence on a site that many a local person could have readily advised was likely to throw up precisely these sort of challenges. I have always supported the provision of a much-needed, modern, purpose-built police station and custody suite for Salisbury and have consistently defended the operational independence of the police by backing the Chief Constable’s judgement on the best means to deliver it.

He has the right to choose the site that he feels is best suited to provide a top quality service to south Wiltshire.

But he also has a responsibility to maintain public confidence in his leadership by not giving his word unless he is certain he is in a position to keep it.

I and many others will now be looking to the Chief Constable to see his own plan through to fruition by doing all he can to identify a new viable site and deliver a custody suite for Salisbury.