Important News – Wimbledon Police Station
I have been informed by Chief Superintendent Sally Benatar, the South West London BCU Commander, that from Wednesday 29 July, a staged move will begin to create a single parade site located at Wimbledon Police Station. This means that local response teams will be based at Wimbledon, highlighting its importance to our community, and will not lead to any increase in response times.
This is positive step forward in our long campaign to Save Wimbledon Police Station. It supports our arguments that our Police Station is the best site for our share of the 20,000 new police officers the Government have funded to operate from,
Wimbledon Police Station is still under threat
In 2017 the Labour Mayor of London announced his plans to close Wimbledon Police Station. In response, Merton Conservatives launched a local petition which was signed by thousands of you, which was delivered to the Mayor. On numerous occasions, including in meetings with the Deputy Mayor and local Police, I made it clear that the Mayor’s plans were unjustified and unacceptable, and outlined the case to keep our Police Station open.
Whilst the courts found that the Mayor’s original consultation ahead of his announcement was flawed, it did not stop the Mayor from closing our police station. It is still at risk because the Mayor could still close our police station as he only had to consider the ‘impact of new technology’, not to re-run the consultation or alter his decision.
I will continue fighting to Save Wimbledon Police Station
I am delighted that the Met Police have acknowledged the operational importance of Wimbledon Police Station – this is the exact point I have been making over the last three years. While this news does not confirm that Wimbledon Police Station is definitely safe from the threat of closure, it is a further demonstration of the operational importance of our police station and how crucial it is to keep our community safe, and huge step to ensuring we keep our Police Station.
MOPAC and the Met are still conducting their Estates Review in light of the Government’s recruitment of 20,000 extra police officers across the UK. With Wimbledon becoming the local parade centre, this proves our point about the operational importance of Wimbledon Police Station and why the Mayor must change his mind and reverse his decision to close it.
I shall continue make it clear to the Mayor that the best option, both to keep our community safe and for the Police operationally, is to keep Wimbledon Police Station open.