DUDLEY Probation Service staff will move to a purpose built office next year.

Eighty employees from offices in Stourbridge, Lye and Netherton will move to Hope House at Castlegate Business Park, Dudley, on January 14.

The improved facilities are within walking distance of Dudley Magistrates Court and will enable the service, which supervises people who must attend regular appointments as part of their community order or licence, to offer a better service.

Bill Daly, head of property and estates for the Staffordshire and West Midlands Probation Trust, said: “We identified the site for the new Dudley office in 2008, with assistance from Advantage West Midlands.

"Hope House will consolidate our staff in a modern purpose built office, allowing the trust to dispose of old and inefficient buildings elsewhere in the borough.”