CONSTRUCTION has begun at a Portishead quarry to create a new police firearms training facility.
Workmen have moved into Black Rock Quarry off Valley Road to build the centre, which will include a 100m, eight-lane indoor firing range, a 50m, eight-lane indoor firing range and a means of entry tactics house.
Once complete, the facility will be used to train officers from Avon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire police forces.
It is one element of a wider building programme for Avon and Somerset Constabulary, which aims to provide better facilities for its officers as well as bigger and better custody suites in Bridgwater and Bristol.
The new buildings will be created by a consortium of firms called the Blue Light Partnership, which the police force appointed in January as its associate for the project. They are expected to open from early 2014.
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