Dyfed-Powys Police may face £15m bill for £3m station
THE deal to build a Carmarthenshire police station could cost Dyfed-Powys Police another £15 million by the time they finally own it.
Under the terms of private finance initiative (PFI) the force will have to pay hundreds of thousands each year until 2030, when Ammanford police station will pass into the ownership of the police.
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Councillor Peter Cooper, a member of Dyfed-Powys Police Authority, which holds the force's purse strings, said the station could have cost the authority another £15 million by then.
When the station in Foundary Road opened in 2001 it was reported to have cost between £2 million and £3 million.
The annual cost of the PFI to build the station is not included in the publicly available parts of the draft police budget for 2012-13, but a police estate strategy published last year said it cost £668,047 that year.
Mr Cooper said the repayment was not fixed and went up with inflation, adding: "In ten years it could be up to £1 million a year."
The Saron ward councillor, who was not on the police authority when the deal was struck, said it was only open at daytime during the week and was closed at the weekend.
He said 60 per cent of the building was not being used, adding: "It is a waste of time and money."
Chief Constable Ian Arundale has admitted Ammanford police station was the "wrong building in the wrong place at the wrong time".
He said it is sucking up a quarter of the force's budget for police stations at a time when budget cuts mean he is considering closing others.
The PFI deal allowed local authorities to use private sector cash to build public projects and pay the money back over a long period of time.
Mr Arundale said: "It's a PFI which, in hindsight, you cannot understand why we entered into it," Mr Arundale told a meeting of Carmarthenshire Council. "Ammanford is the wrong building in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm trying to sort this out."
The Chief Constable said he had been holding talks with the company which ran the PFI to seek a deal to reduce the cost.
david.price@swwmedia.co.uk
4 Comments
by KP287
Thursday, January 19 2012, 8:53PM
“You don`t need to be a rocket scientist to understand how PFIs` work, however you do need to be a bit brighter than a councillor or MP...”
by trunkles3
Thursday, January 19 2012, 3:28PM
“swanseajock - I know about when, when & how they came to the UK. Do you? Do the tories?”
by swanseajock
Thursday, January 19 2012, 3:15PM
“Always the fault of the Tories? Seems to me that you have forgotten the 13 years of Labour government, who enegetically and enthusiastically embraced the PFI model.”
by trunkles3
Thursday, January 19 2012, 10:41AM
“A ridiculous idea for financing major projects, bought to the UK by the tory party, sadly supported by the Labour party and it's going to bite everyone on the bum for a long time. PFI's continue to be used, Osbourne set up 61 in his first year in office.
Britain has been sold a very expensive pup.”