Lynne Featherstone

Last outing of the day on is a much happier one. I meet up with Sergeant Leon Christodoulou (Highgate Safer Neighbourhood Police Team) and two local community support officers and Paul McLean Thorne (a local shop owner on Archway Road) to visit potential new premises for the Highgate Safer Neighbourhood Team. We looked at several vacant properties between the station and the old police station - and although they were in good locations, there didn't appear to be enough room and they would need a tremendous amount of work. Then the last visit was to the old Highgate Police Station.

You know there are moments when you really just have to laugh. As we walked in, the ground floor has disabled access, it is in the right location, the old front counter is still there in relatively good nick should they want to put in a volunteer service. There is space and there could not be a better or more suitable premises. Well, it did use to be a police station … !

Our local Commander, Simon O'Brien, had just emailed me to say that this was a possibility for premises and I will be writing back to say that he would be completely mad if he and the Met Police Estates did not use these premises. They are absolutely ideal. Highgate residents would be over the moon.

What tickles me about all this is that the Commander before the Commander before Simon, Stephen James, said - when I had begged him to re-open the station - 'over my dead body'. Perhaps I ought to give him a call…