Changing lights at police building to cost nearly £500,000

Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter

Changing the lighting system at a police building in west Wales is set to cost nearly £500,000, with the figure described as “strikingly large” during a public meeting.

The contract for the new lighting at Dyfed-Powys Police’s strategic command centre at Llangunnor, near Carmarthen, was approved by police and crime commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn.

Mr Llywelyn spoke about it when asked at a meeting of the Dyfed Powys police and crime panel, which scrutinises his role, on May 20.

Panel vice-chairman, Cllr Keith Evans, said he was “a bit disturbed” looking at the lighting cost, which was detailed in a report, and asked Mr Llywelyn if he could clarify his role in confirming the expenditure.

The report said the lighting system at the strategic command centre, which was built 15 years ago and – according to the architects involved – cost £6.4m and was hard to maintain due to the redundancy of the fittings and the unavailability of parts.

It is to be replaced with LED lighting and controls which have heat-mapping technology, meaning they can dim when people aren’t around and save energy. External lights will also be replaced.

The report said that following an evaluation process Dyfed-Powys Police’s estates department recommended a £483,110 contract should be awarded to Swansea-based John Weaver (Contractors) Ltd along with a 15% contingency, if required, to an overall value of £555,576.

“This is based on financial cost evaluation, contract terms, route to market and timely delivery of the works with escalating material costs,” said the report.

Mr Llywelyn then approved the contract. He told the panel that he and his chief finance officer reviewed proposed expenditure by the force above a certain threshold.

Governance frameworks

The Plaid Cymru commissioner said everything was done within governance frameworks and, in answer to a point raised by Cllr Evans, said there was a degree of “rubber-stamping” by him in some instances.

He added that the strategic command centre was, in estate terms, owned by the commissioner while its function was the chief constable’s responsibility. Mr Llywelyn said modernising the lighting system did come “at a significant cost”.

The report listed various other spending decisions made by Mr Llywelyn in recent months, including £27,065 for a new “fuming cabinet” for the force’s fingerprint development unit. These cabinets effectively develop prints on crime scene exhibits, said the report.

Lay panel chairman Professor Ian Roffe said the strategic command centre was, in his view, the best value public building ever built in Wales – until he saw the lighting replacement cost. “I thought it was strikingly large,” he said.