Police station decision delayed

A decision on the future of a landmark police station in west Belfast was delayed today.

The Northern Ireland policing board’s corporate affairs committee had been expected to give the go-ahead for the base at Andersonstown to be demolished.

But the decision has been deferred until June 3.

A policing board spokesman confirmed further consultations would take place between officials and members of the city’s district policing partnership as well as the DPP’s west Belfast sub group.

Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland briefed the corporate affairs committee at a meeting in Belfast today.

The Andersonstown station, first opened in 1937, was one of the most bombed by the IRA during 30 years of terrorist violence.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have been pressing the authorities to have it closed and demolished. It has operated on a part-time basis for about a year.

If the station is pulled down, a medieval Celtic settlement could be revealed. According to local historians, records show the remains of an Iron Age fort and a 14th century church on the site.