Eltham police station up for sale
Eltham’s police station is being marketed with a price tag around £2 million.
Knight Frank have been advertising the site – click here to see – as one with potential for mixed-use development.
The building on Well Hall Road is a pleasant inter-war structure which opened in 1937.
There’s some lovely deals on the structure though I fear it’ll almost certainly come down in its entirety for a new development.
Closures across the area
The closure follows a pattern as a large number closed since cuts took hold in 2010. Woolwich, Greenwich, Westcombe Park, Sidcup, Thamesmead and Belvedere stations all shut between 2010 and 2016.
While much of the country saw officer numbers sharply reduced, London held off by selling stations and locating officers into fewer buildings.
Since then closures have slowed in the capital, though central government only agreed to fund more officers if local areas met a substantial part of the overall cost – hence high increases in council tax precepts both in London and across the country in recent years.
Council taxes are far more regressive than general taxation, with the cost falling on poorer taxpayers to a greater extent.
Cuts saw 20,600 police officers lost nationwide between 2010 and 2019. Total police staff reductions were nearer 40,000.
The Government then announced 20,000 nationwide more officers taking numbers back to 2010 levels by 2023 – though the population of London alone will be around 1 million higher than in 2010.
Across the country it’s above 2 million thus officers per capita will remain below 2010 levels by 2023.
It is, indeed a pleasant structure. I particularly like the curved window bay and imagine that at one time the windows were Crittal’s. The fact that this beautiful building will be torn down so that lots of expensive little boxes can cover the footprint fills me with sadness.
If Royal Borough of Greenwich is going to achieve the Carbon Neutral Plan we cannot allow existing sound and in this case a characterful public 1930’s building to be demolished we need to adapt and reuse our existing building stock. Isn’t this building on the Local Listing and registered as a Community Asset with the Council if not why not?