THE Met has hinted for the first time that the closure of Walthamstow's only proper police station could become permanent.

The historic building, in Forest Road, closed last September after it was badly damaged in an arson attack by a mentally ill man.

Weeks later the Met said it was unable to afford the repair costs and staff were "temporarily" transferred to Chingford Police Station instead.

But in a statement released to the press this week, the force said it had drawn up a proposal "regarding alternative accommodation options for those services" previously based at the site.

The Guardian is awaiting details of what the proposals are, but leading officers have previously expressed enthusiasm for basing police in community buildings such as libraries and the town hall.

And the statement raises the prospect that the building could either be used for other police purposes or may even be sold off.

The news comes amid major financial pressures on the Met, which has an annual budget of £3.7 billion.

It needs to make cuts of £769 million between 2011 and 2015 in order to balance the books, but has only drawn up plans for £537 million worth of savings so far.

These plans include cutting its workforce by 3,280 - of which 1,410 are police officer posts.

A Met spokeswoman said: "The Mayor’s Office for Policing & Crime (MOPAC) estate contains over 800 buildings many of which, including some of our police stations, provide poor working conditions for staff, are inefficient for modern day policing and are being replaced by more modern, efficient and geographically responsive facilities.

“The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is reviewing the whole of the property estate to ensure we are making best use of it and identifying efficiency savings that can be reinvested into operational policing.

“We have put a proposal regarding alternative accommodation options for those services that were based at Walthamstow Police Station to the MOPAC for their initial consideration and await approval.

"We will continue to develop our strategy for this building as this could provide an opportunity to improve the estate at the same time as delivering substantial savings that will allow the MPS to protect operational capability."

The only other public-access police facility in Walthamstow is the Safer Neighbourhood Team office in High Street, which is open between 10am and 6pm Tuesdays to Saturdays.

Chingford Police Station, in King's Head Hill, remains the borough's only 24 hour station, while there are also branches in Kirkdale Road, Leytonstone, and Francis Road in Leyton.

Back in May, Abdul Saddiqi, 38, of Pendleston Road in Walthamstow, was sentenced to at least six months at a mental health unit for carrying out the attack on Walthamstow Police Station.

The court heard that he had been "driven insane" by smoking 25 joints of powerful skunk cannabis per day.

The station was supposed to be open at the time of the arson but officers had been deployed elsewhere.

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