A planned police training college in the North will be shared with the fire and prison services in a bid to overcome a potential £40 million funding crisis, it was confirmed today.
British Secretary of State Peter Hain is to put his integrated proposals to treasury chiefs, who are now expected to approve the overall £130 million costs as early as next month.
Building at the site for the academy at Cookstown, Co Tyrone, could begin within a year, with the first trainees moving in by 2010.
Opening the Policing The Futureinternational conference in Belfast, the Secretary of State said the college would cater for the needs of police, fire and prison service recruits.
His announcement was a major breakthrough in the long-running saga surrounding an academy to replace the dilapidated Garnerville complex in East Belfast.
The British government had been resisting demands to hand over the extra cash needed to construct the facilities on the 210-acre Desertcreat site chosen from a list of 26 contenders.
The college was to have been built by 2008, but the delays mean any completion date has now slipped back by up to two years.