Today MOPAC/MPS released the conclusions for the Public Access Strategy which looked at plans to shut all but one police front counter in each borough. [1]
Sian Berry says:
Within just three weeks off the back of a rushed consultation the Met have announced barely a single change to their plans to close stations and front counters across London.
People in places like Streatham, where a £500,000 front counter and local police base is to close after just two years, have engaged with the process in good faith, but their petitions haven’t even had time to be digested before final decisions have been made.
If the police want to increase the trust Londoners have in them, they should be listening not brushing off local concerns like this.
Even in Notting Hill, the police station which is needed more than ever now will be closed. Although a replacement front counter has been announced, the local community can rightly suspect this will only be temporary. The people around Grenfell Tower deserved better.
In my response to the consultation [2] I also asked that provision was made to replace the current lost property functions of the police, possibly transferring responsibility entirely to Transport for London to reunite Londoners with lost valuables and treasured possessions. Instead MOPAC have brushed this off, rudely suggesting people should make their own efforts to reclaim and find their belongings.
Notes to editors
[1] MOPAC/MPS Public Access Strategy, 01 Nov 2017 https://www.london.gov.uk/mopac-publications/public-access-strategy
[2] Sian Berry’s response to MOPAC Access Strategy consultation, 4 Oct 2017 https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2017_10_04_sb_mopac_access_strategy_consultation.pdf
Sian Berry was elected as a Green member of the London Assembly in May 2016. She has been a councillor for Highgate ward in Camden since 2014.