Chingford Police Station must be replaced with a facility providing face-to-face contact with local officers, residents have warned.
Chief Superintendent Steve Wisbey has announced that Chingford Police Station is likely to close in a bid to save money.
The Met has been told it must make savings of £260 million over the next four years.
Cost-cutting proposals include station closures and job cuts, including the loss of five Safer Neighbourhood Sergeants in Waltham Forest.
Chief Supt Wisbey said only 30 per cent of the building in Kings Head Hill is currently in use after operations were moved to a base off Blackhorse Lane in Walthamstow and a custody unit in Hainault Road, Leyton.
Chief Supt Wisbey said Chingford police station costs £1 million a year to run - the cost 50 of employing 50 officers.
He told the Chingford Green and Endlebury Forum this week that the building is not needed, but would be replaced by another facility nearby with a public counter.
And residents and councillors said it is vital that a promise of continued easy access to the police at a counter in the north of the borough is kept.
Conservative Councillor, Michael Lewis, of Chingford Green Ward, described developments as "an area for concern" and said there is a lack of detail on any proposed new facility.
He added: “The safer neighbourhood teams work out of their various offices but they are not places that people can go and report to.
“We definitely need something in the north of the borough.
“We will be watching the whole thing very carefully to see what will happen on that site.”
Drysdale Residents Association chairman, Mike Freeman, 63, said: “It is a shame to lose a building like that, but we have been told it is not being fully used.
“There must be a front counter somewhere. People like someone they can speak to face to face and it is especially reassuring for the elderly."
Resident Trevor Calver, 63, of Larkshall Road, is concerned about what will happen to the site.
He said: “People want a police station. That is what is necessary.
“I am worried it will then be sold to some developer who will try and cram houses and flats into a tiny area - something that is happening all over the borough."
Rumours began circulating last year that Chingford Police Station would be closed.
In September, Chief Supt Wisbey denied a decision had been made.
The Council has been campaigning for extra police officers after it emerged the borough has lower levels than other areas with similar levels of crime.
A deal has been done for the authority to share the cost of extra officers with the Metropolitan Police.
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