The closure of extra police stations dangers “hollowing out” our city ­centres and damaging excessive streets, MPs shall be warned tomorrow.

Former cupboard minister Theresa Villiers will say that “a police officer sitting in Starbucks with an iPad” shouldn't be seen as an alternative choice to a “functioning police station”.

The former long-serving Northern Ireland Secretary additionally argues that at a time when some forces have been rocked by scandals, it will be a mistake to press on with closures.

The Tory will warning it dangers making “officers less connected to one another, more isolated, and more distanced from their communities”.

A Liberal Democrat evaluation final 12 months discovered 217 police stations and counters had closed throughout England since 2015, the equal of 1 shutting each fortnight.

Ms Villiers, 55, is predicted to inform fellow MPs: “We should be trying to enhance the visible presence of ­public services on local high streets, not scaling it back.”

Support has come from fellow Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, who stated: “Visible police stations in town ­centres are an essential resource for security and assurance.”

A key concern for Ms Villiers is that closures can result in the “loss of the physical presence of the police”.

She will warn it will be “disastrous” for her north Lon­­don seat of Chipping Barnet if the closure of a station she is combating to save lots of leaves “officers with nowhere from which to operate”. She will use tomorrow’s debate to name for a reversal of closures in London.

Rejecting the argu­­ment that police stations are much less essential as work is processed electronically, she is going to say it's “unrealistic to expect an officer sitting in Starbucks with an iPad to be an adequate substitute for a functioning police station”.

Dame Louise Casey’s landmark evaluate into the Met this 12 months reported that between “2010 and 2022, it closed 126 police stations”.

It warned that the shuttering of the stations – coupled with a lack of civilian employees, neighborhood assist officers and particular constables – had “eroded frontline policing”.

Tiff Lynch, of the Police Federation of England and Wales, stated: “The closing of police stations has caused concern among communities. However, forces do face multi-million-pound budget cuts.”

She pressed for long-term funding in “community-based policing, combined with cutting-edge tech to assist with intelligence gathering”.

A Home Office spokeswoman stated: “Our priority is cutting crime, and with the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers, we have more in England and Wales than ever before.

“It is up to chief constables and elected commissioners to make decisions on local resourcing and estates, including police stations.”