Hornchurch Police Station is to stay open following a year-long campaign led by Hornchurch & Upminster Conservative Association.
The station was earmarked for closure by the Mayor of London in July 2017, and the local Conservative team collected hundreds of signatures against the move after residents expressed fears about the clustering of police resources in Romford.
Responding to the petition, Emerson Park councillor and former Havering Leader, Roger Ramsey, instructed council officers to look at purchasing the station, and new council leader, Cllr Damian White, has now given the green light to the deal. Havering Council will lease the station back to the Met to guarantee a police presence in the area.
It is fantastic news that the council has responded to our residents’ petition and will be keeping Hornchurch Police Station in police use. This was a campaign led by our Chairman, Bob Perry, and with Bob now elected to council and chairing the Crime & Disorder Committee, we have a strong voice within the Town Hall on police issues. I am grateful to our two Council Leaders, Cllr Ramsey and Cllr White, for acting so quickly and decisively to reassure residents.
This week I met Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, to talk about the Hornchurch purchase and we discussed how councils and police might work together even more closely in future to share resource and build safer communities.
As I explained to the Commissioner, Havering residents’ confidence had been dealt a triple blow over the past eighteen months with the triborough teething problems, station closure programme and changing crime profile of the area. Major work needs to be done to restore that confidence and the purchase of Hornchurch Police Station marks a start in that process.
I know residents are fed up with the 101 reporting number, and the Commissioner offered assurances that investment in new systems last month is already leading to big improvements. She also believes new police technology is beginning to free up officer time for patrols.
I thanked her for her recent visit with officers to Elm Park in a show of force against crime and anti-social behaviour in the area and expressed my hope that we could continue to work collaboratively to deliver a better service to the people whom we serve.
