Assembly demands answers on Met estate shake‑up

Sir Sadiq Khan is facing backlash from the London Assembly after details of the Met Police’s estate plans were shared with his appointed board before elected members had the chance to see them.

Police and Crime committee chair Marina Ahmad is angry that details of the force’s long-awaited Estates Strategy had been given to the London Policing Board – whose members are appointed by him – and not with her committee despite them calling for updates.

The Labour Assembly member said she was “extremely disappointed” and summoned the mayor to appear before the committee.

The mayor’s office said the strategy was still in development and extensive professional advice had been sought in its development.

The Met’s Estates Strategy will lay out exactly what it intends to do with all of its buildings, including a number of police stations that have been closed under previous rounds of savings.

It is running years late and had been expected to be published this summer. It is now promised before Christmas.

“For years, the Police and Crime Committee has called for updates on when the Met’s Estates Strategy will be ready to be scrutinised,” she said.

“The Police and Crime Committee has constantly been told that it will be available in due course, yet we are still to see the draft document.”

She added: “It appears we have been left in the dark over a key strategic document, despite having asked for it over a number of years, whilst members of the London Policing Board, who are not elected officials, have been given sight.”

The committee has used its powers to summon the mayor and his deputy for policing to a specially arranged meeting on 18 December – a rarely used power.

‘Indefensible’

Conservative deputy chair of the committee Susan Hall said she was “beyond outraged”.

“The democratic police scrutiny body has been completely bypassed on such an important document… it makes a mockery of democratic accountability,” she said.

Liberal Democrat committee member Gareth Roberts echoed those concerns.

“Frankly, this is indefensible. The Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee, elected representatives acting on behalf of Londoners, has been strung along and kept in the dark, while the mayor’s unelected board is quietly handed a draft of the very document we’ve been requesting for years.

“It’s outrageous that for the second time in six months the mayor will have to explain why he’s been keeping Londoners in the dark about his plans for the police in London.”

A spokesperson for the mayor of London said the draft strategy was “still in development”

“Extensive professional advice has been sought in its development, as Londoners would expect.

“The strategy will be shared with the London Assembly once finalised.”