Police officers can now use fire stations across the South Hams as part of a new agreement between the emergency services.

A number of police stations have been closed across the region in recent years.

These include ones in Salcombe, Dartmouth, South Brent, Brixham and Plymstock.

The new agreement means that if an officer needs somewhere to speak to a member of the public, for example, they can use any of the county’s nearest fire stations.

Fire station manager Lynn Foxwell said: “It makes sense that we share the use of our fire stations with Devon and Cornwall Police, particularly where they don’t have a base.”

The force says this will help officers in remote areas.

The two services have been testing the idea in a pilot in North Devon over the past 18 months and the agreement was extended to include all Devon fire stations at the beginning of August.

Ch Insp Tom Holmes, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “This agreement will help develop working relationships and widen the team and is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our links with our rural communities.”

A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “The Government has stated that there should be greater collaboration between emergency services and this is one of many ways in which the services are working more closely together.

“The emergency services work to a jointly agreed set of principles at incidents and developing those relationships will enable a greater understanding of each other’s roles and responsibilities.”