And demands that Mayor come clean about plans for Heckfield Place site

Hammersmith & Fulham Council says the Mayor of London’s plans to shut Fulham Police Station and cut police numbers in the borough are unacceptable.

As we reported last month, London mayor Boris Johnson announced that Hammersmith & Fulham’s Met Police team would keep a ‘front counter’ at the station in Heckfield Place, with the rest given up to accommodate Fulham Boys School if the plans go ahead.

This drastic reduction to the police service in the borough comes at a time when there are also proposals to axe the borough’s PCSOs and others across the capital.

" This is yet another example of police services in the borough being attacked by the government and the Mayor of London," says Cllr Michael Cartwright, H&F Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour.

" We support Fulham Boys School and are therefore hugely disappointed that after a year of promises by the mayor to find a decent site he’s not been able to come up with anything better than closing an important police station.

" Fulham residents need a fully functional police station. The Mayor must come clean about what the sale of the building means for a police presence in a fast growing area. He has said that there will be a '‘front counter' service, but what does that mean? How will response times be affected in emergencies? How many officers will be stationed in Fulham after much of the station is closed?"

Councillor Cartwright adds: " Police officers in the borough are already stretched thanks to government cuts and now the Met are being forced to axe PCSOs. We’re very concerned about what these plans will mean for residents."

H&F currently has 24 PCSOs, one based in each of its 16 wards, plus eight more. The Met is considering scrapping them all together, cutting numbers by half or just leaving the ward based ones. A decision was due to be made at a meeting of the Met's Management Board at the end of September but was then pushed back till Deember.

Fulham Boys School could be built on the site of Fulham Police Station by September 2017. The CofE secondary school is currently based at a temporary site on the Gibbs Green Estate in West Kensington.

October 9, 2015