Julia Lopez, MP for the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency, has again written to the Met Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, pushing for an urgent answer on the long-term future of Hornchurch police station.
The Met have promised for over a year to publish their estates strategy which would be indicative of the future of Hornchurch police station. In April, Sir Mark explained that the strategy would be published by late summer 2024, with the Met reaffirming this commitment in early August.
However, as of October a decision has still not been made and the Met are still yet to publish their Estates Strategy. As such, Mrs Lopez has once again pushed for an urgent update in a letter to Sir Mark, highlighting the importance of keeping a police presence in the station.
In her letter, Mrs Lopez highlights the Met’s ‘New Met for London Plan’ which emphasises the service’s commitment to prioritise delivering a strong neighbourhood policing model which ensured that officers were in buildings which were visible and accessible to the public.
In her letter, the Hornchurch & Upminster MP highlighted that keeping the station would go a long way to delivering on these key objectives for the Met.
Commenting, Julia Lopez said:
“I’ve again written to the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, seeking an urgent answer on the future of Hornchurch police station. We’ve been promised an answer for well over a year now and as recently as August we were told that we could expect a decision by the end of summer.
“I share the Met’s ambition set out in their ‘New Met for London Plan’ to deliver strong neighbourhood policing with officers in buildings which are both visible and accessible to the public. However, we’ve seen nothing so far to suggest this is becoming a reality. Keeping a policing presence at Hornchurch police station would go a long way to meeting those objectives.”
Further to raising the issue of Hornchurch police station, Mrs Lopez also raised concerns about the Met’s focus on tackling theft and robbery, two issues which have seen a rise in Havering and caused significant anxiety among shopkeepers in the constituency.
In a recent update from the Met Commissioner, robbery and theft only received a passing mention despite this being a key concern throughout the Hornchurch & Upminster constituency. Mrs Lopez highlighted the strength of feeling and importance which many retailers attached to this issue at her recent meeting.
