THE Home Secretary is calling for an external review of the controversial decision to move a police helicopter from Teesside to Newcastle.

Concerns have been raised about the time it would take for the helicopter to reach operational targets in the south of the region following the National Police Air Service (Npas) announcement.

Stockton South MP James Wharton wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May in an attempt to persuade her to intervene in the decision.

The police helicopter is currently based at Durham Tees Valley Airport but is due to be based in Newcastle from the 2016/17 financial year.

Mr Wharton said: “We benefit from our helicopter being locally based at Teesside Airport and plans to move it to Newcastle need to be reconsidered. It was not long ago that a whole new hanger facility was built at Teesside for the Police helicopter, so to move it makes no sense.

"A helicopter based at Newcastle would take longer to respond and have competing demands on its time. Cleveland’s helicopter has done a lot of good work fighting crime in our area and should be kept here.

"I am pleased the Home Secretary has agreed and is seeking this review. There are real concerns that the Npas decision was based on questionable data and a rethink is definitely needed.”

In response to pleas from Mr Wharton and other MPs, Mrs May has called on the Department of Transport to review the decision due to its expertise developed in relation to search and rescue helicopters.

Her letter to Mr Wharton reads: "This is an operational matter and it is right that chief constables and police and crime commissioners must determine the response to local circumstance. However, given that I have had the issue of the decisions to move some bases brought to my attention by yourself and other MPs, and given the strategic nature of Npas capability, I have decided that I should seek assurance the Npas has designed robustly and will, when implemented, provide proper national coverage of air support."

As well as politicians wading into the debate, campaigner James Hind, 31, of Stockton, set up the petition to retain the base at Durham Tees Valley Airport and has held a meeting with Cleveland police and crime commissioner Barry Coppinger.

Last month Mr Coppinger, a Npas board member who voted for the proposal, defended the decision, arguing that Cleveland Police was being forced to make £18m savings by the Government and air support was costing £1.4m a year.

The petition – titled Save the Cleveland Police Npas Helicopter – can be found on the change.org website.