Winchester police station could be axed as pressure on staff increases, a meeting heard.

The city’s beat areas are set to be merged to save money and North Walls station could close, meaning some local police could soon be working from a base at the city’s fire station.

The police station’s closure is an “eventuality,” and follows similar plans put in place across the county as the force cuts its costs and building stock, PCSO Tim Wyld told the Police and Communities Together (PACT) meeting on Tuesday.

PC Joe Zubaidi added: “Loads of stations have closed all over the county, and are being sold off.

“The areas are still covered – for example, in Winchester we won’t own a police station but the response teams will be working out of the fire station.”

The changes come as Hampshire Constabulary continues to make multi-million pound savings in the face of government cuts.

It will see city beat officers working in Mottisfont Court, which the force bought from Hampshire County Council to use as a new headquarters, he added.

Winchester’s beat areas – the city centre and a band of residential neighbourhoods – will be merged from April.

But officers said the cuts wouldn’t affect frontline staff numbers or service.

PC Zubaidi added: “I think [numbers are] pretty much the same, but it will just be a case of we will go where the problems are.

“Personally I can’t imagine us being in the town centre any less, because there’s probably more problems there.

“The government keep saying we have to save tens of millions each year, so they make drastic cuts. But frontline numbers, because they’ve always been so low, I don’t think they can cut them that much.”

The changes are the latest phase of a major restructure of the force, which will see more than 2,000 officers across the county relocated.