Joanne McCartney, London Assembly member for Enfield and Haringey and Chair of the Police and Crime Committee, is a single voice against the heavy current of support for the recent sale of 35 properties owned and operated by the Metropolitan Police. Taking advantage of London’s property boom, Scotland Yard raked in £124.5 million from the sale, which included 20 police stations.
Outlined in the latest report from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), this push ent-e23f9d88-6f92-613b-fb8a-32815a3509c3″ class=”textannotation”>ent-2b05136c-2a6d-c9b5-f3b1-2a00ad5bbe1c” class=”textannotation”>to “shrink and remodel the police estate in London” came in the wake of a strong public mant-8b836a4b-8153-3fcd-3b3a-6e5511c5f8b2″ class=”textannotation”>hancement-645abbd8-d73a-a689-bf71-9cc1a1abec9c” class=”textannotation”>date for strengthening the police force over maintaining police proper=”urn:enhancement-e3dbe945-0f34-7c84-5bb6-ff28882496a8″ class=”textannotation”>ty. As such, Scotl2ea77e3968″ class=”textanpan>notation”>”textannotation”>and>3ee7e9aa” class=”textannotation”>-d1db-3eb4-c85bee07f60b” class=”textannotation”> Yardn> put the hammer to police stations in Clapham, Hackney, Richmond Upon Thames and Westminster to name a few, with plans to close as many as 63 of the 136 police stations operating in London, in exchange for which the public will be serviced by 115 new public contact points and a dedicated 24/7 station for every borough. The revenue is to be invested in frontline policing, IT infrastructure and maintaining the 32,000 officer strong police force.
The properties themselves are to be repurposed into new housing developments and schools as well as a medical facility and a shopping centre. These projects are expected to create 2000-3000 new jobs and £1 million in council tax. As part of Mayor Boris Johnson’s 3-year MOPAC/MPS Estate Strategy, these sales have been a real coup for his administration, saying: “I pledged to deliver savings from the police estate in the face of unprecedented budget pressures and without compromising on resourcing for frontline policing […] we are freeing up tens of millions of pounds to maintain our police officer numbers and generate savings for the future.” Stephen Greenhalgh, Deputy Mayor for Policing echoed the Mayor’s remarks, describing the capital gains as a “once in a generation opportunity to equip our police with modern mobile technology needed for 21st century policing.”
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