Exclusive

Police stations closing at the rate of one per week, LBC reveals

30 November 2022, 08:24 | Updated: 30 November 2022, 10:40

Police stations across the UK have been shutting their doors at a rate of more than one per week
Police stations across the UK have been shutting their doors at a rate of more than one per week. Picture: Alamy/PFEW
Connor Hand

By Connor Hand

Police stations across the UK have been shutting their doors at a rate of more than one per week since 2010, an LBC analysis has revealed.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

LBC submitted Freedom of Information requests to all 43 police forces in England and Wales and found that since 2010, a date synonymous with the election of the Coalition Government and the onset of the austerity-era cuts, at least 663 police stations in England, Wales and Scotland have closed.  

Across England and Wales, this equates to approximately four-in-ten stations closing over this period.

Alarmingly, despite this sharp decrease in the number of police stations across the UK, the Home Office appears to be unaware of the scale of the issue.

When approached by LBC about the number of stations to have closed over this period, the Home Office admitted that it ‘does not centrally hold or collect the information requested’.  

Yet LBC’s analysis casts an alarming picture about what’s happening at some of Britain’s biggest and most scrutinised police forces.  

By way of example, the Metropolitan Police, the UK’s biggest police force, has seen the closure of over one hundred stations – around 75% of the total open in 2010.

Whilst some of these stations lay disused, others have been put to use by those with criminal intent; earlier this year, a large cannabis farm was uncovered at the Isle of Dogs Police Station on Manchester Road, a mere five months after its closure.

Read more: Hundreds of thousands of police hours spent on Just Stop Oil should've been spent investigating crime, says top Met Cop

Read more: 'Call us to report corrupt cops', say Met Police bosses, after string of officer scandals

Steve Hartshorn, Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales
Steve Hartshorn, Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales. Picture: PFEW

Meanwhile, West Midlands police, which covers an area with the country’s highest rate of knife crime per capita in 2020/21, has seen close to 80% of its stations with a public counter close, whilst 140 closures were disclosed by Police Scotland.

"It’s shocking to hear it’s that many," Steve Hartshorn, Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told LBC.  

"We’ve been aware that police stations have been closing at an alarming rate for a long time… You hear stories about serious crimes that have happened outside of police stations, and it does make you think 'could those crimes have been prevented had funding been provided by police authorities to keep them open?'" 

Hartshorn’s question is far from academic.  

Paul Kohler has campaigned to keep local stations
Paul Kohler has campaigned to keep local stations. Picture: Alamy

In 2014, Paul Kohler was subjected to a vicious attack at his home, leaving him with injuries that meant he required reconstructive facial surgery.

Officers from his local police station were able to attend his within eight minutes, and Kohler credits their swift response with saving his life. He has campaigned to keep local stations ever since.  

In an interview with LBC, Kohler said the Home Office’s inability to answer how many stations had closed since 2010 showed "how contemptuous they [the department] are of the issue". 

"They just don’t seem to get it. They’ve got to fund the bricks and mortar for police to stay in the community. If police are miles away, they can’t get to issues, they’re not seen by the community. The whole notion of policing by consent involves police being there amongst the people." 

Responding to LBC's investigation, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Our absolute priority is cutting crime and making our streets safer, and the Government is on track to deliver its pledge to recruit 20,000 police officers by March 2023.

"We are investing record funds into policing and giving officers the support, training and powers they need to crack down on crime.

"It is up to local elected Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Exclusive
Senior Tories including Suella Braverman and Michael Gove have criticised the judge's comments

Senior Tories blast 'out of touch' judge for 'ludicrous attack' on Starmer’s migrant remarks

Breaking
Yarden Bibas was released by Hamas earlier this month

Hamas to return bodies of Bibas family with six more Israelis to walk free

Lisa Smith, 43, was with a female friend when she was killed outside the Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt, Kent

Man suspected of fatally shooting wife outside pub on Valentine's Day rang friend and said 'she's dead'

Carry On legend Julian Holloway dies aged 80

Carry On legend Julian Holloway dies aged 80 after 'brief illness' as tributes pour in

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned 'any appearance by armed forces under some other flag' in Ukraine would be 'completely unacceptable', in a dig at a peace plan floated by Keir Starmer.

Keir Starmer’s Ukraine peacekeeping plan ‘completely unacceptable’, Russia tells US in Saudi Arabia talks

Rita Lambourne, 58, was “fatally wounded” at her home in Bayencourt South, Bexhill

Man charged with axe murder of woman in own home

Lydia Mugambe is accused of taking 'advantage of her status'

UN judge ‘trafficked woman to UK to be her slave'

Anonymous posters have appeared in Hampstead Heath, a park in north London, calling for gay men to stop using the park for sex.

'Take back Hampstead Heath', dog walkers urged as posters appear calling for men to stop using park for sex

Gavin Nicholls was tackled to the ground by a plain-clothed officer outside the Co-op in Barnet

Moment serial shoplifter is tackled off e-scooter by police as he flees store in north London

The plane, which was carrying 80 people, slid down onto the icy runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport before bursting into flames

Horrifying video shows moment Delta plane crashes on tarmac and bursts into flames at Toronto airport

Healey's comments came following Russia-US Peake talks in Saudi Arabia.

UK facing 'new era of threat' from Russia, Defence Secretary says as he unveils ‘biggest military shake up in 50 years’

Passengers escape Flipped over Delta plane after it crashed while landing in Toronto

'We were hanging upside down like bats': Survivors reveal fear and chaos inside flipped over Delta plane

England's top judge slams Starmer and Badenoch over Gaza family immigration comments

'Judges aren't free from criticism': Backlash after England's top judge attacks Starmer's migrant remarks

Craig and Lindsay Foreman

British couple on round-the-world motorbike adventure charged with espionage by Iranian authorities

An assistant referee has been charged with child sexual offences.

Assistant referee for FA Cup and football league games charged with child sexual offence

Corinna Schumacher, right, has broken her silence on the case involving a plot to reveal Formula One star Michael Schumacher's health secrets.

Michael Schumacher's wife breaks silence after three men guilty of blackmail plot to reveal F1 legend's health secrets