Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has issued the following statement in regards to reports over the future of Tipton Police Station.
“The MP for West Bromwich West is of course entitled to his own opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts. By issuing inaccurate and misleading statements, he is doing both the people he represents and his role as an MP, a grave disservice.
“Following a decade of reckless cuts, imposed by his own government, on police forces up and down the country, well over 600 police stations have been forced to close. These reckless cuts were all supported by, voted for and implemented by the MP’s own government.
“In February 2018, over 5 years ago, a decision was made by the then Chief Constable, based on his impartial and independent assessment, that Tipton Police Station was ‘surplus estate’, within the West Midlands Police Estates Programme.
“We lost 2,221 police officers, many hundreds of essential police staff, including up to 400 PCSOs. As a consequence of the MP’s own government’s actions, community policing was dismantled. The Estates Programme was part of a strategy to prevent the loss of even more police officers.
“As a consequence of ill-advised, misconceived and poor decision making on the part of the MP’s own government, Tipton Police Station remains at risk of closure in Autumn 2025. Until then, the police station remains open and I will keep the police estate under constant review.
“In 2023, West Midlands Police was allocated the 5th worst police grant settlement in the country, was forced to make cuts of £28 million this year and faces a further £28 million of cuts next year, because the government has failed to deliver fair funding for the West Midlands.
“If the MP genuinely wants to save Tipton Police Station, I would urge him to join my campaign to reform his own government’s deeply flawed police funding formula, that costs West Midlands Police £40 million a year, so as to ensure fair funding for West Midlands Police.”
Back to News Archive