New mayor of Hamilton John (Jay) Bluck said new homes could be put on top of a new multi-storey Hamilton Police Station in order to encourage city living.

Last week the new Mayor said the Corporation of Hamilton would assist with the building of a new Hamilton Police Station in any way possible.

?We are about to examine a new 2001 City of Hamilton Plan, because it is outdated,? Mr. Bluck said. ?Things have happened between then and now. And if the Minister would like to see a taller building ? if he needs a floor or two extra ? that is the sort of thing we would look very favourably on.?

Mayor Bluck said the City was ever-growing but the Corporation wanted to encourage more people to live in the city.

?It may help if they were able to include housing on top,? Mr. Bluck said. ?In Guernsey any new building they receive requests for must have adequate parking and because they too are pressed for residential units, maybe having residential accommodation above the station would not be a bad thing.?

He admitted putting apartments above a Police Station would be thinking ?slightly out of the box?.

Mr. Bluck agreed with Minister of Works and Engineering and Housing Sen. David Burch that the Supreme Court and Police Station needed to be in the same building.

?The Corporation would look at ways and means to help this,? Mr. Bluck said. ?We would be ecstatic if it gets started. My main issue is safety and quality of life in the city.?

The new Mayor added the Corporation of Hamilton would do whatever it could to support the Police Commissioner to get things running at a new Police Station. ?I couldn?t think of a better thing for Hamilton to hear of a new Police Station and Court building starting immediately, if not yesterday. This is because the presence of Police has got to be used as a deterrent.