SPECULATION is mounting about what the proposed closure of Harefield police station could mean for the village.

The relocation to Ruislip is part of a plan to consolidate 15 of the borough’s police offices into just four, as part of the Met’s new Local Policing Model (LPM).

Clarification was due last October, but the village remains in the dark about its police station’s future.

Paul Stone, chairman of Harefield Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (HTRA) said: “I really hope it doesn’t happen, it just seems silly.

“We have a bike patrol in Harefield, but if they move to Ruislip I can’t see that being possible.

“We are so far away from Ruislip, it doesn’t make sense to close it.”

Harefield’s new Safer Neighbourhoods Team Sergeant, Alison Jeffery, said she has not been told what was happening.

“I can’t say how a move will affect the village until we’re told more about how it will work.”

The re-starting of Harefield’s lapsed police panel in December has been welcomed as a positive move for policing in the village. The panel gives local people the chance to meet police officers and raise any concerns.

But Sgt Jeffery said the uncertainty surrounding the station’s future was also stalling the setting of new policing targets for the area.

The main target, set back in June last year, was the tackling of a spate of anti-social behaviour in the village.

Complaints have significantly decreased and one family has been issued with a written notice, said Sgt Jeffery.

“A clear message has been delivered that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated in Harefield,” she added.

Temporary Chief Inspector Nick Aldworth, of Hillingdon police, told the Gazette: “There is a project under way to identify properties surplus to requirement and could be sold in order to fill some of our £500m budget gap.

“We are not currently aware of any plans to sell Harefield police station but it will, along with every other base, be considered as part of this project.

“Regardless of any decision, we will continue to maintain both a strong neighbourhood presence in the village as well as the enhanced response presence that we are already projecting from our northern hub at Ruislip.”

A meeting of the borough’s residents’ association chairmen is being held on January 21, when an update regarding the future of police stations is expected from Borough Commander, Steve Kershaw.

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