Council’s £3.2m bill for unused HGV depot branded a ‘shambles’

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

A county council has spent £3.2m on the not-fit-for-purpose HGV ‘shed’  – splashing out more than £700k on consultant fees alone.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service to Conwy County Council has revealed the authority has spent £2,233,330 on rent at the Mochdre shed, £703,735 on “specialist consultants”, and £290,574 on legal costs.

Despite the authority never having used the HGV depot for its intended purpose, £273,379 was spent on maintenance and £155,263 on utilities, with £216,437 labelled “other” costs.

The council says the building brought in £629,031 in income.

That means the Mochdre HGV depot has cost a total of at least £3,243,687 to date – with the full costs remaining unknown.

Other questions remained unanswered in the FOI, with the authority claiming the sums were too expensive to calculate in officers’ time.

These unanswered questions included the cost of storing the council’s 157 HGVs in alternative locations, which the authority said was too expensive to calculate.

A Conwy County Council spokeswoman replying to the FOI query said that aspects of the request “would involve a significant amount of time (well in excess of 18 working hours) to provide the relevant analysis over a ten-year period.”

She added: “Therefore, under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am not able to provide some of the information.”

Conwy County Council took on the contract for the purpose-built Mochdre depot in May 2016.

The council says the depot’s floor is unsuitable to sufficiently accommodate HGVs, yet the council is locked into the 35-year lease until 2031 – when the agreement can be broken. The council remains in a legal battle over the payments.

Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders slammed the authority, pointing to the fact council tax was likely to again be increased in the coming weeks. “This is a shambles. Now is the time to question the actual validity of the council in its approach to this absolute waste of money,” she said.

“Any time now, council tax bills will be dropping through hard-working people’s doors, with yet another increase. This, on top of nearly 30% council tax increases in the last three years; it’s been the highest in Wales.”

Colwyn Bay Town councillor Phil Ashe felt the same.

“The money that’s been wasted, to find out it’s £3.2m, is scandalous, and no one’s been held to account for it. On top of that, they clearly did not need this unit, as they managed to store the vehicles elsewhere. Why did they sign up for this in the first place?” he said.

“Over the last several years, when the council tax is rocketing and they are laying off teachers and cutting services and closing schools, we find out they wasted money like this. What else are they wasting? They are not transparent whatsoever. They need to be held to account over it.”

He added: “£700,000 on consultants – don’t we employ people in the local authority who are specialists in certain fields? Why are we paying so much for consultants? What was it they were needed for, for such an amount of money?”

Leader Cllr Julie Fallon said this week she shared councillors’ concerns but stressed that ongoing legal proceedings limited what could be publicly disclosed. She noted that court processes were outside the council’s control.

Initially leased from Conygar Investment Company PLC, R.R Sea Strand Limited now serves as the landlord.

Conwy County Council was approached for comment.