Acton Police Station will no longer be open 24 hours a day, with its front counter hours set to reduce to 10am–10pm on weekdays and 9am–7pm at weekends, under sweeping Metropolitan Police plans to close a £260 million funding gap.
The change means Ealing residents will have no access in the borough to a police front counter overnight which Ealing Liberal Democrats have called “shocking”.
Only two Metropolitan Police stations — Charing Cross and Lewisham — will remain open 24/7, as part of a restructuring programme designed to save £7 million while focusing resources on frontline duties. The Met said it would keep 27 front counters open across London – seven more than originally proposed – after public consultation showed residents valued local access more than all-night availability.
In a statement, the force said: “Despite the changes, this plan still delivers the same savings of £7 million as the Met continues to prioritise its resources on frontline policing, making tough choices to close a £260 million funding gap.”
Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the Met was “having to shrink to live within its means,” adding that resources would now be targeted on “a narrower set of priorities to make London safer.” He said Londoners had called for “more visible and responsive policing on the capital’s streets,” and that this plan would help achieve that.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said the revised proposals were possible due to “record-breaking funding from City Hall,” and would help “keep local policing accessible.”
But the Ealing Liberal Democrats have condemned the decision to end 24-hour access at Acton Police Station, accusing the Labour Mayor of breaking his manifesto pledge to keep at least one 24-hour front counter in each London borough.
Councillor Connie Hersch, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for crime, anti-social behaviour, communities and culture, said:
“Liberal Democrats find this latest news from the Metropolitan Police shocking, limiting access to police stations drastically. Ealing has suffered already with the closure of the Ealing Police Station. Now the Acton station will have limited opening hours and so there is no face-to-face access to police overnight in the whole borough. Liberal Democrats say that the Labour Mayor of London has let us down and as the nights get darker earlier, many more residents will feel unsafe.”
Speaking to EALING.NEWS, Councillor Seema Kumar, Ealing Conservatives spokesperson for safer communities, said: “It is a disgrace that, under London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan, Acton Police Station will not be open 24 hours a day. That’s after Ealing lost Ealing Broadway and Southall front counters. It gets even worse. The whole of London will only have two front counters open 24 hours a day, for a population of nearly 9 million people.”
She added: “When residents are concerned about crime in the area, we need at the absolute minimum one front counter in the borough open at all times. Will Ealing’s Labour Council now oppose Sadiq Khan’s cuts? Or will they sit on their hands, choosing political expediency over the residents of Ealing?”
The Met claims the changes reflect the way most people now report crime, with 95% of reports made online, by phone or directly to officers. In a statement, it said: “Londoners will continue to be able to book appointments to see an officer and report a crime, access video appointments, phone 999 and 101, report online and contact their local ward officers, and phones will be installed outside closed front counters to minimise the impact.”
