THE design of Bolton's new police headquarters, and 15 other stations due to be built in Greater Manchester, has been condemned by a Government think tank.
The stations, part of an £80 million modernisation, have also been attacked as bland and wrongly located.
Some are described as looking more like leisure centres than police stations.
The criticism comes from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
The new Bolton police headquarters is to be built on Scholey Street, Burnden Park.
But Greater Manchester Police chiefs today said they are pleased with the designs of the stations although they will meet the Commission for Architecture to discuss its concerns.
The commission, which is working with the Prime Minister Tony Blair to create better public buildings, said it was disappointed that it had seen the designs only at a late stage and had been unable to influence the plans.
Councillors in Bolton have already given the new station the green light and the 4,000 metre square building should be completed by 2003. It will replace the existing station on Le Mans Crescent.
A new deployment centre is also being built at Middlebrook, Horwich.
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