Chief Superintendent Tyron Joyce, Chief Operating Officer for the National Police Air Service said: “The National Police Air Service provide air support to the police forces of England and Wales from a national network of 15 bases.

“From time to time, staff and aircraft are required to relocate operations from one base to another within our network. As a national operator, this has a limited impact on the service that we offer to police forces across England and Wales and ensures that our resources are put to best use.

“With effect from 07:00 on Friday 31 August, operations will be temporarily relocated from one of our two Essex bases; ‘NPAS Boreham’ to ‘NPAS London’, 16 miles away.

“The NPAS Boreham site is shared with a gravel extraction company who are about to extend operations at the site. This work will prevent the continued safe operation of police helicopters at this time. This action has been expected and planned for.

“Crews and aircraft will therefore operate until further notice from our nearest alternative base. NPAS will continue to operate a borderless service utilising the nearest available aircraft.”