New central venue planned for future
Some residents within Ealing Borough may have heard the rumours that Ealing Police Station is due to close imminently. Ealing Police would like to shed some light on to the current activity surrounding Ealing Police Station.
In 2004 the Metropolitan Police Service and Metropolitan Police Authority launched the new property and estates strategy – Building Towards the Safest City. The new strategy was needed to support the requirements of modern front line policing. The end result of the strategy should be a modern, flexible and affordable police estate with space to accommodate rising police numbers and facilities focused on the priorities of modern policing.
The strategy outlined that the Metropolitan Police intends to recycle buildings, which are no longer fit for modern policing and renovate or replace them with newer, better-positioned and properly equipped accommodation.
Taking the above into consideration Ealing Police Station falls into the category of not fit for modern day policing due to its high maintenance bills, health and safety issues and lamentable station reception facility for the general public.
At this time there are is no official date as to when Ealing Police Station will relocate to a new building.
What does this mean to the Policing of Ealing?
Since December 2005, all operational and CID Officers who were stationed at Ealing Police Station were re-housed at the newly refurbished Acton Police Station following a 18 month and £9m redevelopment programme. This work began in Mid July 2004 and was completed in December 2005.
The end result of this work is a three Storey extension to the back of police station that doubled the office space in the building and an increased custody cell space for prisoners from Three cells and One Detention Room to Twenty Cells and Two detention Rooms. A complete modernisation of the station office facility was combined with a specially adapted station office counter for the disabled, an increase in the number of interview rooms and improved disabled access from the car park at the front of the building to the station office.
In January 2005, an action packed public open day was held at Acton Police Station where information & community stands were set up in the yard and local youths from Descendants 93 performed a song and dance routine from West Side Story. Ealing Borough police cadets guided visitors around the new custody Suite, whilst demonstrating custodial procedures and some police officers were dressed in MET Uniforms from through the Ages.
At present Police Officers assigned to patrol Ealing now begin and end their shift, receive their daily briefings, process prisoners and complete crime reports at Acton Police Station. At all other times they continue to carry out their day-to-day patrols and daily routine of policing Ealing efficiently and effectively.
It is not intended that this will change once Ealing Police Station moves to its new site which should be modern, better-positioned and properly equipped accommodation.
Ealing police station currently accommodates the Borough Commander of Ealing Borough, some members of the senior management, some of the 23 Safer Neighbourhood Teams, the community and partnership department and other non-operational support departments such as human resources and finance and resources departments. These will all move to the new accommodation when it becomes available with the exception of Safer Neighbourhood teams who will go to their respective wards.
Borough Commander Colette Paul states:
“My message to the community in Ealing is that when we do find a suitable site it will be located as close as possible to the local authority building, Perceval House in Uxbridge Road, Ealing.
This new venue will also be fitted with a modern station office facility, which will offer an up to date, properly equipped customer friendly facility to enable us to provide an improved quality of service to everyone in Ealing Borough.
At this time there are is no date as to when this move will happen and we will keep everyone informed as soon as we have an update on developments.”
November 10, 2006
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