Since her election in 2017 Julia Lopez MP has been working to secure the long-term future of Hornchurch Police Station, originally scheduled for disposal by the Mayor of London in the same year. As the Mayor of London this week indicated that he had asked the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to retain Uxbridge Police Station, which had also been listed for disposal by the Mayor in 2017, Julia has written to the Mayor to ask that he confirm the station’s future by retaining it under the Met’s ownership.

Following a strong local campaign and a judicial review by the Council, in 2018 a deal was secured between Havering Council and MOPAC through which the Council would purchase the station and leaseback a portion of the site for the police to continue to operate from. However, five years on, little to no progress has been made on implementing that deal and the significant uplift in officer numbers, via the Government’s fulfilment of its pledge to recruit 20,000 additional officers, has undermined the basis of the initial decision to dispose of the station.

Working with local Conservative activists, Julia has received the support of over 1,200 local residents who have backed their campaign for the Met to retain the station. In a statement to the press, the Mayor advised that he had been ‘listening to local residents and campaigners in places like Uxbridge’ so he had written to the Met Commissioner saying ‘that the case for now retaining more police station sites across the capital is strong’. Julia has therefore written to the Mayor to ask that he provide further clarity on the police stations that he has asked the Metropolitan Police to retain and to confirm if Hornchurch Police Station is among the list. A copy of Julia’s submission to the Mayor can be accessed below.