MONMOUTH and Chepstow police stations are now open to the public from 9am to 5pm, five days a week.

Both stations re-opened their doors to the public yesterday (1st April) after being closed to the public since July 2012.

Police stations in Caerphilly, Ystrad Mynach, Risca, Pontypool and Maindee station in Newport will also re-open to the public five days a week from 9am to 5pm.

Two police stations in Blaenau Gwent have also extended their opening hours. Abertillery station is now open Thursday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Brynmawr police station is open Monday to Wednesday from 9am to 5pm.

Monmouth and Chepstow police stations, along with 15 others, were closed back in 2012 to save the force £500,000.

Gwent PCC Ian Johnston announced his decision to re-open the stations during a meeting of the Gwent Police and Crime panel back in January 2014 following public feedback and consultations with local authorities and the Chief Constable.

PCC Ian Johnston said: "The closure of police stations and accessibility to them has been high on the agenda for many of our communities.

"Acting on direct feedback I've received from members of the public I'm delighted to announce the opening of an additional seven front counter services at police stations across Gwent from today and the extended opening hours of a number of other stations.

"The announcement today complements some of the priorities outlined in my Police and Crime Plan with regards to delivering the best quality of service available for the people of Gwent, reducing and preventing crime and protecting people from serious harm.

"I would like to thank everyone from the force who worked so tirelessly to help make this happen.

"We are providing the service but it's now up to members of the public to make effective use of these stations."

The Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Jeff Farrar, said: "We will be maintaining our existing five front counters which have remained operational over the last couple of years, meaning that the public will be able to call in at a total of 14 police stations in Gwent.

"We will be evalutating the success of this over the coming year to ensure we are making the best use of resources.

"Our wider face-to-face engagement work with the public will continue to be complemented by regular and pre-advertised police surgeries at other police stations across the force, as well as in partner and public facilities, and using our five mobile police stations."

The front counters are currently being manned by community support officers (CSOs) but Gwent Police is currently recruiting for station enquiry officers (SEOs) to provide this service.

The provision of these front counters will be reviewed after 12 months and public attendance at the stations will also be assessed during this time.