Former Hampstead Police Station

• IT’S a shame that Darla Hocking stoops to attack on grounds of us not caring about children in her arguments pro Abacus Belsize FS, (Give Abacus Belsize Primary School a permanent home, July 16).

All children are precious and deserve the best.

I, and over 15 neighbourhood and amenity associations, an unprecedented number, as well as the three Hampstead ward councillors, objected to the change of use of Hampstead police station to a school.

We have nothing against Abacus Belsize FS but question whether there are better alternatives.

Some background: Abacus Belsize FS started in 2013 with no home and no idea of where its permanent location would be.

As a free school, it is funded under the auspices of the Department for Education, so when Boris Johnson, Mayor of London at the time, sold off police stations, the DfE snapped up Hampstead police station. It has been empty since.

The DfE has been intransigent in not seeing that HPS is not suitable, despite refusal of two planning applications on environmental and building heritage grounds.

It has acknowledged the high level of toxic air pollution in the area detrimental to the health of children’s young lungs, to the extent that renovation work would need to include extraction and filtration of clean air into the school building.

Ms Hocking denigrates that nothing has been done to restore police stations but that situation could be changing.

Two of the prospective London 2021 mayoral candidates have declared their intentions to increase police numbers and restore closed police stations.

Ms Hocking should also consider that the DfE has not allowed any thought of freeing up Hampstead police station such as to allow thoughts of other usage.

The Hampstead Committee for Responsible Development provided at least three suitable sites better located to the Belsize catchment area, but they were dismissed without much consideration.

To my knowledge DfE has also not sought to work with Camden Council to find solutions.

I hope that Ms Hocking will agree that, in these times of falling birth rates and school rolls, local working and decision-making would achieve better results for all its children – and the whole community – rather than top-down decisions being forced on us by the government.

LINDA CHUNG,
NW3