Rt Hon Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
London SE1 2AA
29th September 2017
I am disappointed that I have not had a reply to my letter of 4th September, asking to meet with you to discuss Wimbledon Police Station and for a chance to present a petition with over 4000 signatures to keep the station open. I would still welcome the chance to meet with you and present the petition.
You will no doubt be aware of the strength of feeling from my constituents against your proposal to close Wimbledon Police Station. I made this very clear to your Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime when I met with her, and residents made this very clear at the public meeting on 26th September. I trust that the responses to the consultation will reflect this too.
Our Police Station is very well located near the Town Centre, which has a huge night-time economy and a large transport hub which needs policing. The recent terrorist attack on the District line starkly demonstrates this.
Additionally, Wimbledon’s transport hub will only become larger and more significant when Crossrail 2 is completed. Wimbledon also hosts the Championships, bringing a huge number of visitors from all over the world who need to be kept safe.
Just look at the crime statistics over the last two years backs this up. Trinity ward, in which the police station is located, had the second highest crime rate in the Borough in the 2015/16 financial year, and the 4th highest in 2016/17. Furthermore, it is important to note that Wimbledon Police Station had 2.6 crimes a day on average reported at their front desk, whereas Mitcham only had 0.7, according to your office’s own statistics.
Despite the information given to me from your Deputy Mayor, I have been told by Merton’s Borough Commander that all emergency response vehicles are based at Wimbledon Police Station. If they are consequently moved to Mitcham, this will have serious consequences to policing in the area with the need to change shift patterns, response time estimate and the allocation of resources. I also understand that Mitcham Police Station does not currently have the facilities to accommodate this.
I hope these points, and all the submissions made by my constituents, will be seriously taken into account.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Hammond MP