THE long-awaited Portland police station is to open for the New Year - six months after it was originally due to be operational.

Five officers and a homebeat bobby will work from the new base at the Osprey Quay development on the former air station.

The move comes after contractual delays put off the start of the station when it was first meant to open in June.

Councillor Jacqui Redfern called for action to speed up the opening of the complex after the contractual negotiations dragged on earlier this autumn.

She warned that Portlanders were getting fed up with waiting for the station and concerned about crime.

Now Insp Tony Rudd, head of West Weymouth Police, said: "The station will be up and running for the New Year.

"The police have a responsibility in spending the tax payers' money.

"When renting the building we have to get it right and if we ended up with anything wrong with the contract we could be liable for further costs."

Dorset Police closed the previous Portland police station in Fortuneswell in 2002 but agreed to open another base after an outcry.

Officers currently cover Portland from the Weymouth West station in Chickerell. The new station will go in a building on the development of Osprey Quay, near Victoria Square.

Officers will be based there, but the building will not be open to the public in the immediate future.

Insp Rudd said: "We want to get the station up and running and have a police presence based on the island.

"Anything else will be looked at when get this first stage into being."

Coun Redfern called for the base to be open to the public.

She said: "It is seven miles from Portland to Weymouth.

"It is about access to the police.

"We don't just want a shed down there with a locked door. The police need to be as open and accessible as possible, and this is not the way to do it."

She added: "When you try to phone the police it can be like a maze of telephone calls which can go via Bournemouth."

Coun Mike Byatt from Dorset Police Authority said: "It is important the station is opened as soon as possible.

"I would like to reassure people that we do take their concerns seriously.

"As soon as we can open the station to the appropriate standards we will do."