Having decided to close their help desk at Shipley police station, it must have been rather embarrassing for the West Yorkshire force to have to admit that prior to this decision a large sum of money had been spent on making the facility more disabled-friendly.

In fact, it must have been so embarrassing that the force was unwilling to reveal to the Telegraph & Argus just how large that sum of money was. However, using the Freedom of Information Act we have been able to discover that a grand £55,000 was spent on the work money which, if the closure decision is allowed to stand, will have been wasted.

This is at a time when West Yorkshire Police are trying to cope with a £17.7 million budget shortfall, which was the reason for the help desk closure decision. But it seems a nonsense to allow a £55,000 investment to be abandoned for the sake of the modest cost in civilian hours of keeping the help desk open.

The police should think again about their Shipley closure decision, as they have about Otley and Bingley. Shipley is a busy and important town. Its residents surely should be entitled to a point of contact with the forces of law and order.

The police should also think hard about their reluctance to reveal such items of information as the cost of the improvements at Shipley. It is absolutely right that the price of the project should be in the public domain without newspapers having to resort to the Freedom of Information Act to make it so.