THE MAN in charge of policing in Waltham Forest has revealed the borough will be merging with Newham amid sweeping cuts from central government.

The Met’s Borough Commander in Waltham Forest, Richard Tucker, made the revelation at a meeting on Wednesday to ease residents’ concerns about crime in Walthamstow.

Soaring knife crime in the borough, which rose 34 per cent from 2016 to 2017, claimed the life of 17-year-old Elijah Dornelly on the streets of Walthamstow just two months ago.

After promising to deal with numerous complaints about anti-social behaviour from residents, DCS Tucker began to address how police cuts will impact locally.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Borough chief Richard Tucker and Superintendent Paul Clements (Pic: Stella Creasy/Instagram)

He said: “Looking forward, the cuts are coming and we have to make savings.

“There’s an inclusive plan in place for the next five years which involves Waltham Forest joining with Newham under police command structure.

“I’ve been asked to run that which is good, it’s fantastic."

The announcement fits in with Scotland Yard's plan to reduce its 32 police commands down to just 12.

DCS Tucker added: “To put that into perspective if that command was a police force it would be in the top 10 in the country.

“In terms of demand, population and size, it’s going to be challenging.

“With £400 million we have to save, that money has got to come from somewhere.

“Some of the savings will be from that and also our estate.”

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Elijah Dornelly, 17, was killed in Walthamstow High Street

DCS Tucker continued to admit his “regret” over police station closures, saying the decision to take police away from Walthamstow High Street, where Elijah Dornelly was killed, was a “mistake”.

He continued: “Looking forward over the next four years, the proposal is we shut our contact bases and we have Chingford Police Station as our contact point.

“I’m not happy with that, it’s in completely the wrong the part of the borough.

“I would like to either keep the High Street open 24 hours a day or Leyton where we have a custody site, and turn that into a front counter for 24 hours as well.”

While DCS Tucker said his desire would be to keep more contact points open, he admitted: “If we kept all those places open, we’d have to lose more police officers.”