School is blocked again from moving into Hampstead police station

Department for Education stuck with empty building

THE Department for Education (UK) has been left stuck owning a police station which has stood empty for seven years after a planning inspector refused to allow a primary school to move in.

Abacus Belsize Primary School was told on Thursday that its appeal against Camden Council’s refusal to grant planning consent for the conversion of the grade-II listed building in Rosslyn Hill had failed.

The DfE bought the site in 2013 for £14 million after it was shut down as a police station in cuts ordered by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during his time as the Mayor of London. In his judgment on Thursday, planning inspector Paul Jackson said concerns over the impact of noise on the building’s neighbours, fears over damage to its heritage and the long-term effect of pollution on children were too great to overturn the council’s decision.

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