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Nearly 200 police stations across Scotland contain asbestos, shock new figures uncovered by the Scottish Conservatives can reveal today.

A response to a Freedom of Information Request received by the party confirms 177 stations contain the substance.

Every region in Scotland has a police station with asbestos in it, with the highest number found in the Aberdeenshire and Moray division where 25 stations have asbestos, with 23 buildings in Greater Glasgow containing it as well as 21 in Tayside.

The FOI request also uncovered that four stations till contain dangerous RAAC material including one station in Edinburgh, while the Scottish Conservatives revealed earlier this year that over 300 stations are in need of repair.

The Scottish Police Federation have warned for years about the state of police stations in Scotland and in 2019 described the Ayr station as “probably being carved out of asbestos.”

Shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr says that it is appalling that officers and staff should be working in buildings “riddled” with asbestos.

Liam Kerr added that it is another example of the SNP’s “shameful neglect” of the police force and urged ministers to guarantee that asbestos will be removed where it is safe to do as a matter of urgency.

“This must be an urgent wake-up call for the SNP justice secretary to properly fund our police estate and guarantee asbestos will be removed from all of these stations where it is safe to do so as quickly as possible.”

Ends

NOTES

177 police stations across Scotland contain asbestos. Every region of Scotland has between 3 and 25 police stations that contain asbestos. Aberdeenshire and Moray have the most with 25 while the Highlands and Islands have the least with 3. (Police Scotland FOI, 7 August 2025, available upon request)

4 police stations across Scotland contain RAAC. 2 are in Tayside, 1 is in Edinburgh and 1 is in The Lothians and Scottish Borders. (Police Scotland FOI, 7 August 2025, available upon request)

The Scottish Police Federation warned in 2019 that the safety of police officers is being put at risk by the state of police stations. The Scottish Police Federation told MSPs that conditions in some areas are a "complete and utter embarrassment" and added “We have relatively modern buildings, we have new buildings, and we have frankly decrepit buildings. The Paisley office is pretty much held together with black and yellow hazard tape. The Ayr office, I think, was probably carved out of asbestos. Even our relatively new buildings are falling into a state of disrepair because no money is being spent on maintenance.” (The Herald, 30 May 2019, link)

There were 333 police stations that required repairs in April 2025. Every area of Scotland contains police stations in need of repairs, including 21 in Edinburgh, 35 in Greater Glasgow, and 41 in the Highlands and Islands. The highest number was in the North East with 53 police stations in need of repairs. (Scottish Conservative FOI, April 2025, available upon request)

The Chair of the Scottish Police Federation has warned that underfunding has led to ‘policing deserts’ across Scotland. David Threadgold said station closures had left some areas with an ‘almost invisible policing presence, providing an utterly reactive service’. (BBC News, 25 March 2025, link)

140 police stations and almost 100 police counters closed between 2013 and 2023. 140 police stations have closed while the number of police counters fell from 340 in 2013, the year Police Scotland was established, to 253 in 2023. (STV News, 26 April 2023, link)

There are over 800 fewer police officers today than there were before the pandemic. There are 16,553 police officers on the streets today compared to 17,431 at the beginning of 2020 – which is a fall of 878 officers. 2024 saw police officer numbers fall to their lowest level since 2007. (Scottish Government, 6 May 2025, link)