'Security at risk without police training base'

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Scotland Yard has asked the Government for cash to build a new weapons training centre to help officers cope with the terror threat facing London.

Without it, says the Met report, "security operations at some sensitive locations, such as Heathrow, may be compromised should there be insufficient trained officers available for duty".

The public could be exposed to "an increased and significant risk", it adds, saying armed security is "an absolute requirement" at Heathrow.

The Met's existing specialist training centre in Gravesend is operating at full capacity, providing 37,000 firearms training days each year.

But it is estimated that by 2012 an extra 40,000 days a year will be required.

The Met uses MoD land at RAF Uxbridge as a temporary training base but this arrangement will end in 2009.

The report, by the Met's deputy commercial director Colin King, says " representations have been made to the Home Office and Treasury about capital funding, given the primary reason for additional firearms officers is associated with the heightened security threat to the capital".

Mr King proposes either a nonresidential facility inside the M25, which would cost up to £71 million to build and £10 to 12 million a year to run, or a residential centre further out costing up to £90 million with £12 to 14 million annual running costs. Any facility needs to be north-west of London with easy access to Heathrow, he says.

A Met spokeswoman said: "We are predicting a situation in six years and planning and preparing for it. We would be negligent if we didn't point out such issues to the people making the financial decisions.

"However, we would never allow a situation to develop where key locations were left unprotected."

A Home Office spokeswoman said it would "consider" a case for additional resources, but added: "The permanent police presence at Heathrow, including firearms officers, is an operational matter for the Met Commissioner, in discussion with the airport operator."