HAVE you ever fancied living in your very own police station? An opportunity has arisen for you to get your wish at a 'steal' of a price.

For Greater Manchester Police is shortly due to put two bases up for auction, with the lucky winners becoming the new custodians of their very own enquiry desk, holding cells and boss's office.

In November, The Bury Times reported that GMP bosses were shutting Radcliffe and Ramsbottom Police Stations as part of cost-cutting plans after a review.

This week, Chief Inspector Steve Gerrard, of Bury Police, wrote to staff asking them to take their belongings from the two stations before the auction at the end of January.

With their urban settings, the properties might catch the eye of businesses wanting central locations or housing developers.

Other abandoned stations, such as Castle Street station in Bolton and the former Bury headquarters, have become havens for film crews wanting to film footage in authentic police buildings.

The Rambotton station, in Bridge Street, is expected to prove particularly popular as it at one end of a busy row of town-centre shops.

GMP is yet to formally confirm the auction and brochures displaying the stations' facilities have not yet been published.

However, police chiefs have previously said they expect to raise £700,000 from selling the two stations and six others elsewhere in the county, which would mean an average asking price of £116,000 per station.

That would represent a bargain compared with the asking price of £595,000 for a shop unit further up Bridge Street in Ramsbottom, though it is possible that the auction winners may wish to simply demolish the stations.

On top of the expected one-off earning from selling the properties, disposing of the stations and others in Plant Hill, Northernden, Failsworth and Mossley is set to save GMP £100,000 a year.

Radcliffe and Ramsbottom Stations are closed to the public and officers who used to be based there instead use Bury and Whitefield stations.

When they do call in to the Radcliffe and Ramsbottom stations, it is to use a computer or to have a cup of tea on their break.

Arrangements are being made for officers to be able to do that at Ramsbottom Library instead and they are to be given iPads so they can input information on the go.

Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: "Police officers don’t need to be based in police stations in order to deliver local policing.

"By embedding neighbourhood policing at the heart of the service, developing the use of mobile data, and working much more closely with partner agencies, officers are now more visible in local communities, whether that’s out on the street, sharing a council building or in the local library."