In a huge breakthrough for the campaign to retain Teddington Police Station for community use, Munira has secured Government backing to ensure that the Mayor can sell off sites for a discount to bids that benefit the community.
The breakthrough came after Munira held several meetings with the now former Housing Minister, Lucy Frazer, and secured cross-party support for an amendment in the House of Commons in December. On Monday, the Government passed its own amendment taking up the policy in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in the House of Lords.
The amendment received the support of a number of cross-party Peers, including Munira’s Liberal Democrat colleague, Baroness Pinnock, as well as Lord Crisp and the Bishops of Chelmsford and Worcester.
Once the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill becomes law, this means that the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime can legally sell sites, such as Teddington Police Station, for a certain margin below market value to bids which put the economic, environmental or social infrastructure needs of local people first.
In the case of Teddington Police Station, which has been confirmed to be up for sale since 2021, local campaigners hope the site can be used for much-needed new social and affordable housing for young people and keyworkers and new premises for Park Road GP Surgery.
Munira is also delighted to have secured assurances from the Government that they will be consulting on increasing the cash value public bodies like the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime can offer, uprating them from the £2 million sum agreed in 2003.
Following the debate in the House of Lords on Monday, Munira said:
“I am delighted and proud to see our amendment pass in the House of Lords, and I wholeheartedly thank my colleagues who spoke to it and helped make this positive and progressive change a reality.
“The future of the Teddington Police Station site is now in the Mayor of London’s hands. I will continue to campaign to allow public authorities to grant more significant discounts, particularly in our capital where land prices are so high.”
Reacting to news of the amendment in a letter to Munira, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, wrote:
“I support the principles behind this amendment, and I will do everything I can to ensure that Teddington Police Station is put to the best possible use.”