This resource is from the Issues section. This page contains information relevant to police estate, with links to all relevant pages on the MPA website and elsewhere.

Sections available here:

• Estate matters
  • Borough Asset Management plans

Estate matters

The Metropolitan Police Authority has responsibility for all the buildings used by the Metropolitan Police in London and we recognise the vital role the estate plays in supporting the delivery of effective and efficient policing across the capital.

The police estate is broad and varied, ranging from local police stations to emergency call centres, training facilities, garages for the fleet, stabling for police horses, and document/evidence storage depots.

It comprises over 600 operational buildings, including 174 police stations, in all over six million square feet of premises used by over 50,000 police officers and staff.

The Authority is acutely aware that the estate is ageing - approximately 35% of the buildings pre-dating 1935 - and many buildings are inappropriately located for today’s communities. To deliver an excellent police service, our buildings have to meet both today’s requirements as well as our future demands. Simply upgrading or renewing individual parts of the estate is no longer an option and there is an urgent need for major change.

Individual borough Asset Management Plans – local community consultation

Plans to modernise police facilities have been published for each of the capital’s 32 boroughs. These offer local communities the unique opportunity to make their voices heard in the drive to make the police service more responsive to their needs.

The Asset Management Plan (AMP) for each borough outlines the local strategy to improve facilities, including the provision of front counters, patrol bases, custody centres, Safer Neighbourhoods team bases and office accommodation, as well as ensuring the buildings are fully accessible in line with legislation. A significant feature of the AMPs, which aim to explain the changes and how they will directly benefit policing, is a period of local consultation, actively seeking feedback form the community.

The Property for Policing Programme sets out to deliver more effective policing by:

• ensuring the public has accessible and friendly police facilities in the heart of local communities, closer to crime hotspots and compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. More Safer Neighbourhoods’ team bases will open within local communities, bringing the police closer to the public;
• providing a single Custody Centre in most boroughs. This will create 30 to 40 custody cells in one place, with all the appropriate facilities required on one site. This will provide safe and modern facilities for employees and detainees and free up officers’ time for front-line duties;
• building new Patrol Bases in easily accessible locations, where we can. This will speed up response times and enable officers to spend more time patrolling the streets;
• creating more space to accommodate growing numbers of officers and staff within the MPS. This will involve refurbishing some facilities, relocating or replacing others and opening new accommodation; and
• providing modern working conditions for our officers and staff and so increasing their productivity.

The period of consultation runs for three months from the publication of each  Asset Management Plan.  The closing date for consultation appears beside the link to each plan below. 

Property for Policing - Providing the best estate for borough based policing

The MPA, working in close collaboration with the MPS, is providing new facilities for our growing police service and making improvements to the existing estate. "Property for Policing - Providing the best estate for borough based policing" (March 2007) explains the Authority's intentions for developing our facilities and provides case studies of successful projects. The MPA is committed to consulting local communities to ensure that local people are engaged in the process and understand why we make decisions about our buildings, are able to make their views heard in the process and ultimately are persuaded of the benefits for community safety that will result. Detailed plans for every borough in London will be published and used as the basis for local consultation.

Our overall intention is to deliver the best possible police service for London and London's communities.

Day to day management of the estate is delegated to the Met’s Property Services Department (PSD). In collaboration with the Authority PSD published “Building Towards the Safest City” (February 2004), a strategic approach to move the estate forward. The strategy aims to modernise the estate and make it fit for use by the police, staff and Londoners in the 21st Century.

This estate document was different from previous ones. It was the first step towards a new strategic approach, forward looking but capable of providing quicker solutions to current pressing problems such as increasing staff numbers. It involves new and radical thinking to ensure solutions are affordable, deliverable and in line with diverse and often complex front-line policing needs.

Planning for future development

PSD has also published “Planning for Future Police Estate Development” (May 2005) which sets out a London-wide planning policy to provide guidance to local authorities on the need to make provision through the planning system for police estate development. It outlines the key issues that need to be taken into account when formulating policies for police requirements and selecting suitable locations for them through the development planning system.

Borough Asset Management plans

Borough Asset Management Plans and consultation information
Borough	Comment form	Closing date of consultation
Barking & Dagenham	Comment form	03 Mar 08
Barnet	Comment form	10 Mar 08
Bexley	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Brent	Comment form	06 Mar 08
Bromley	Comment form	13 Mar 08
Camden	Comment form	23 Feb 08
Croydon	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Ealing	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Enfield	Comment form	27 Feb 08
Greenwich	Comment form	13 Mar 08
Hackney	Comment form	13 Mar 08
Hammersmith & Fulham	Comment form	10 Mar 08
Haringey	Comment form	11 Mar 08
Harrow	Comment form	27 Feb 08
Havering	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Hillingdon	Comment form	12 Mar 08
Hounslow	Comment form	22 Feb 08
Islington	Comment form	10 Mar 08
Kensington & Chelsea	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Kingston	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Lambeth	Comment form	27 Feb 08
Lewisham	Comment form	06 Mar 08
Merton	Comment form	13 Mar 08
Newham	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Redbridge	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Richmond upon Thames	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Southwark	Comment form	06 Mar 08
Sutton	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Tower Hamlets	Comment form	16 Feb 08
Waltham Forest	Comment form	06 Mar 08
Wandsworth	Comment form	13 Mar 08
Westminster	Available shortly	10 Mar 08

The following are available as PDF documents:

• Property for Policing - Providing the best estate for borough based policing (March 2007)
  Explains the Authority's intentions for developing our facilities and provides case studies of successful projects.
• Planning for Future Police Estate Development (May 2005)
  Sets out a London-wide planning policy to provide guidance to local authorities on the need to make provision through the planning system for police estate development.
• Building Towards the Safest City (February 2004)
  Demonstrates how the police estate strategy closely mirrors the messages of the wider MPS strategy and how Met’s Property Services Department plans to address the strategic priorities.

Portable Document Format (PDF) files require Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download from Adobe.