PETERSFIELD Museum staff and trustees are preparing to take possession of the town’s police station on October 1.

The museum paid £450,000 for the Victorian police station in St Peter’s Road, which closed in July and is being decommissioned by the police.

Part of the purchase price eventually will be recouped through the £350,000 sale of the museum’s Flora Twort Gallery in Church Path. An offer has been accepted by the trustees and the sale formalities are proceeding, hopefully for completion by the end of the year.

Once decommissioning of the police station is finished and it is handed over to the museum, there are plans to open it for limited use at the beginning of April 2017.

Trustee Bill Gosney said: “From October onwards we will be carrying out minor works to create larger rooms by taking out stud walls so the rooms can be used to exhibit items currently on display in the gallery.

“We also intend to create storage space for exhibits which are currently stored off site from the museum.

“For a period of at least two years until major work on the site begins, the museum will rent out the ten existing car parking spaces with the first four becoming available hopefully during November.”

By the end of September the trustees will know if a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the first phase of work on the proposed major redevelopment of the site has been successful.

Mr Gosney said: “If successful, this round one Lottery bid will go towards preparing detailed plans for the building and costing of the major project.

“Once this cost is known we can submit a second lottery bid for funding the work, which includes a new building linking the courthouse to the police station and major refurbishment of the existing buildings, all of which will create more exhibition space.”

The final development will transform the site into a Victorian justice heritage centre with a library for works by, and related to, the renowned poet Edward Thomas from Steep.

If all goes according to plan, it is likely converting the building will start in about two years and it may take another two years to complete.