IMPORTANT changes to licensing firearms - affecting people in Herefordshire and surrounding areas - have been announced.

The changes, which are effective immediately, are that licence holders will be required to provide medical reports when relevant at the point of application and any fees incurred will need to be met by the licence holder at the point of application.

Also, as part of the assessment process an interview may be conducted via telephone with the license applicant, and improved web pages on both force websites now offer the licence applicant detailed advice and the ability to download their licence application from www.westmercia.police.uk/firearmslicensing.

A fully integrated Warwickshire and West Mercia Firearms and Explosives Licensing Unit, based in Malvern, will be up and running by September 30 this year.

The unit will be responsible for providing a service to 48,000 certificate holders – the largest number of firearms owners in England and Wales from a single Licensing Unit.

The main tasks of the unit will be to protect the public from harm by managing the risk to the community of any individual owning a firearm, and to provide a service to certificate holders and new applicants.