A new police station in Glendale is one step closer to being built after the NSW Government allocated money to it in last week’s state budget.

The government has set aside $1.3 million to purchase land for the station’s site.

The station will be the new headquarters for the Lake Macquarie Area Command police.

Cardiff resident and local business owner Greg Foster said a police station at Glendale was a long-time coming and would benefit the Cardiff community.

“It will be better for Cardiff because at the moment if we call police, they have got to come from Toronto Police Station.”

Mr Foster said on occasions Toronto police haven’t been able to reach Cardiff.

“If Toronto can’t service us, police sometimes come from Belmont.

“So I think the response times will be much better for us having a station at Glendale.”

NSW Police Association Hunter branch spokesperson Kel Graham said he was happy money was allocated for the new Glendale site.

“It makes perfect sense to have the headquarters in Glendale.

“In a perfect scenario, you would want everyone housed in the one building and Glendale is in a central location.”

Mr Graham said it hadn’t yet been discussed if other police stations would shut down after Glendale was built.

“There is rumour about some stations closing but nothing has been confirmed, so we’re waiting to be consulted about the next stage.”

Belmont Neighbourhood Watch spokes-person Deadre Ham said it would be good to have all police under the same roof but thought Glendale was too far from Belmont.

“It’s going to be a big change, I think it would be better if they could get it more central because we’re worried Belmont police will have to look after the east side of the lake by themselves.”