Main Points:

• The Tories slashed the Met police’s budget by more than £600 million when they were in Government. Sir Iain Duncan Smith has voted for cuts to public services again and again.
• The Tories punished London, meaning that the Mayor had no choice but to put up the GLA council tax levy to fund neighbourhood policing. 
• Chingford Police Station remains open, unlike Walthamstow, Leytonstone and Woodford Police stations which closed under the Tories between 2011 – 2021.
• This Labour Government has inherited the mess the Tories made of public services and is picking up the pieces to rebuild neighbourhood policing. 

Local Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Calvin Bailey have met the Metropolitan Police to protest about the proposed closure of the front desk at Chingford Police Station at Kings Head Hill. Labour Council Leader Cllr Grace Williams and Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, Cabinet Member for Community Safety met with the  Borough Commander to express our concerns and to assert the importance of retaining face-to-face contact for vulnerable residents. We stressed our commitment to working in strong partnership to find opportunities for co-location and improving access to policing services in every area of the borough.

The Tories slashed the Met police’s budget by more than £600 million when they were in Government. Sir Iain Duncan Smith voted for cuts to public services again and again while the Tories were in power. The closure of the front desk was proposed by the Metropolitan Police in 2013 when Boris Johnson was Mayor. Since then Tory cuts have led to a shortfall of £260 million in the Metropolitan Police Budget. The Met are now proposing the number of counters will be reduced from 37 to 19 leaving a number of Boroughs, including Waltham Forest, without a front desk.

Stella Creasy responded to the news:

“Waltham Forest police informed me Chingford will close and residents will need to go to Stratford or online if they want to contact someone and that’s that – it’s the latest in a long line of examples of how the leadership of the police in our borough don’t seem to want to engage with the public at all.

A study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies looking at the impact of front desk closures under the Tory Government and Boris Johnson 2011-2016 was: police station closures lower police deterrence and increase violence nearby closed stations…the decline in police effectiveness is exclusively attributed to a deterioration in police ability to investigate and collect evidence necessary to clear crimes…police station closures discourages citizens’ cooperation with law enforcement…shutting down police stations reduces the social welfare of local residents…While supporters of the closures point at the reduced spending for the public finances…,for each pound saved by the public administration, £3 to £7 of additional costs are borne by…society’.

The Met claim only 6% of crimes are reported over front desks, but given residents in Walthamstow and Leyton and Walthamstow already have to trek to Chingford this is hardly surprising. Support Labour in getting the Met to change their minds.

Email: CLPCWGLABOUR@gmail.com