A PLAN to convert a former Redditch nursery into a police facility for witness interviews has been approved by the council's Planning Committee.

The Bungalow at Clifton Close, which was previously the home of Coppice Childcare, will now be used by West Mercia Police after planning permission was granted to refurbish the site.

The facility is known as an ABE - which stands for Achieving Best Evidence - and will be used by officers to conduct video-recorded witness interviews.

Interviews will involve vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses - including children - and will usually be connected to the "most serious of crimes," according to the plan.

The building, which is near the Kingfisher School, will now be refurbished with new interview rooms, waiting room areas and welfare facilities.

It states that officers attending the site would do so in unmarked cars. Access to the building will be limited to use only by those conducting interviews and it will not be a police out station.

The residential location is intended to provide a softer and more reassuring experience for witnesses, with a more "homely environment."

Members of Redditch Borough Council's Planning Committee unanimously voted to approve the plan at a meeting on Wednesday (February 10).

In the meeting, councillor Tom Baker-Price, who represents the Headless Cross & Oakenshaw Ward, said: "I think it's a really good idea that vulnerable victims, rather than having to go into a police station for example, can have a more comfortable community setting."

The plan highlights that the facility will need to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be open primarily between 8am and 8pm.