A councillor is calling for a new police station to be built in his ward to deter increasing antisocial behaviour and drug misuse.

Stephen Stoddart, who represents Moorclose on the town, borough and county councils, wants the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to build a police station next to the fire station in Moorclose.

It comes after it was revealed that PCC Peter McColl purchased land at Lillyhall from Allerdale council last month. Earlier this year Mr McColl confirmed Lillyhall was under consideration for a new police HQ to replace the Hall Brow Station in Workington, which was swamped by two of the county's floods.

Coun Stoddart said: "There's a national trend of placing emergency services teams working together from the same base. Lillyhall is two miles away from Workington and the people I talked to are against it.

"It would be fantastic to have a police station in Moorclose, it would put it back on the map and it would help with all the antisocial behaviour and drug problems we have in Moorclose."

He added he was disappointed that Allerdale's executive, which approved the sale of the land behind closed doors due to the commercial sensitivity of the deal, did not consult other councillors on the move.

However, a spokesman for the authority confirmed its only involvement had been with the land sale and it was the PCC's responsibility to find a suitable location for a new police HQ.

Coun Stoddart said: "If the executive knew what the PCC wanted to use the land for they should have consulted us. That's a piece of land that belongs to the tax payers, yet Allerdale is allowed to sell it without consulting us. I'd love to have a permanent police presence in Moorclose."

He will raise the issue at the next county council's local committee for Allerdale meeting on September 4, at Energus, Lillyhall, at 10am.

A spokesman for the PCC confirmed the recent purchase of land "would be to meet our projected estate needs in West Cumbria."

However she said there were no firm plans to build on it at the moment and declined to comment on coun Stoddart's suggestion.