Hendon Police Training College, which has trained London's policemen and women for more than 70 years, is to be closed and sold off, it emerged this week.The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) is also considering selling off the whole of the Peel Centre site in Aerodrome Road, Colindale.

It includes a brand new £33million communication unit that handles all 999 calls for Barnet and Brent, a casualty bureau that deals with major incidents, a driving school, residential accomodation and a sports centre.

A report, discussed by the MPA on Thursday, revealed that the need for a Hendon campus will "diminish if not disappear" in the next five years. The land opposite, which was known as the RAF East Camp, has already been sold to developers, and 2,800 residential dwellings are being built there at the moment.

The college, which opened in 1934, is the main police training centre for London and sees between 1,500 and 2,000 police recruits pass through each year on 18-week courses.

By September 2007, no more recruits will pass through the college's doors, and rookie cops will be trained in 15 centres across London, leaving most of the site vacant.

Andrew Dismore, MP for Hendon, said that Hendon was renowned for the Peel Centre, and that he would be writing to Commissioner Sir Ian Blair to protest against the move.

"I cannot understand why they would close it down, I will have to look into it," he said. "What about the thousands of police officers who have passed through? It did work for them."

The Hendon campus has attracted controversy in the past, with senior police officers admitting during the Morris Inquiry that there had been a higher than average hot spot of unethical and criminal behaviour at the training school, and incidents of racism', although moves have been made to resolve these issues.

The residential units at Hendon have been branded "unfit for their purpose", and the Met believes it will be easier to attract recruits, and integrate them into communities if they are taught at smaller centres across the capital.

The report goes on to say: "Further work will be required to determine the business case for and extent of full or partial disposal of the site. There is no reason why the other major training users of the Hendon site, the Crime Academy, the Driving School and the Extended Police Family School, need to be located there.

"The Leadership Academy has only recently been established on the Hendon campus. Whilst a large proportion of its output will be delivered at a local level, and there is nothing to necessitate its continued presence at Hendon, early closure/disposal of the building is not envisaged."