Wimbledon police station is set to close and the 24/7 front counter will move to Mitcham.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) made the announcement on Wednesday (November 1) that many police stations across the capital would close, with more focus on telephone services - which account for 70 per cent of crime reporting - as well as an "improved digital offer" involving a new online reporting service launched for testing in March.

Merton's Borough Commander Steve Wallace described the impact on the force in the borough as 'relatively significant'. The planned sale of the station would make £6.75 million and save £444,000 a year in running costs, he said, adding that it may take two years to go through.

In a statement MOPAC said plans to reduce the number of police front counters in London would save an additional £8 million – equivalent to the cost of 140 police constables:

The statement said: "The closing of a police station does not mean the withdrawal of policing from a community. It does mean the maximum possible support for frontline police officer numbers."

Chief superintendent Wallace said MOPAC had to make a 'difficult decision' as the Met looks to save more than £400 million.

He said: "Difficult decisions have been made and it does boil down really to bricks or people, is the bottom line so if we have less buildings we can keep more people.

“ We have to have a police station base to operate out of Merton and we will now be making the main operational base as Mitcham, so the 24/7 policing will operate from there but also the 24/7 front office that will happen within the next time period and will happen within two years that’s to be clarified.”

He added: “The 24/7 policing, emergency calls, 999 and other non-emergency calls the public should see no difference.

“Response policing will remain the same, I know some of the concerns are about the night-time economy in Wimbledon and we will still deploy officers in Wimbledon and work with our special constables and dedicated ward officers will work there as they do now and again we aim that there will be no change.”

MOPAC said new technology will allow police officers to spend more time on the beat in their communities, where they will be on hand to tackle the issues that matter most to Londoners, such as knife crime, anti-social behaviour, hate crime and extremism, and domestic abuse.

Cllr Stephen Alambritis, who wrote to Sadiq Khan and the Home of Secretary Amber Rudd in October, stressed how important Wimbledon police station is to the town centre.

Cllr Alambritis said: "We are very disappointed at the decision to close Wimbledon Police station. Wimbledon needs a continued police presence due to the night-time economy and I will be asking the Met how they plan to deliver policing in the town centre under these plans. We understand the difficult decisions the Met have to make when faced with government cuts of £1bn but we don't think the safety of Wimbledon residents should be compromised."

Chief superintendent Wallace said: "Every borough will have a 24/7 hour station, there is one 24/7 at the moment at Merton, and will be moved to Mitcham rather than Merton it was a difficult decision, this building is worth a lot of money and we need to find a lot of money. I am sure the public will understand the pressure on their own budget and we have exactly the same just on a bigger scale.”