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| Press Releases |
| PFI Credits Allocated to New West Yorkshire Police Accommodation |
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Friday, 26 March, 2010
The Government’s Project Review Group has endorsed (with conditions) the allocation of £216 million of PFI Credits to the West Yorkshire Police Authority (WYPA) PFI Project and Estates Strategy. This project will provide new Divisional Headquarters (DHQ) and custody accommodation for West Yorkshire Police, as well as a specialist operational training facility.
The new DHQs and custody facilities will be located at Elland Road in Leeds and Havertop Lane in Normanton, providing a modern, flexible working environment for staff and enabling better services to be provided to local communities. The new Specialist Operational training centre will be located on a site adjacent to the Operational Support Division at Carr Gate in Wakefield and will include firearms training ranges, driver training and public order training facilities.
Policing and Crime Minister David Hanson MP stated:
“I am pleased to support the £216 million rebuilding project in West Yorkshire, which will help police produce even better work for the people of the county.
“The force is determined to use these new facilities to provide a further boost to neighbourhood policing, which is vital in cracking down on the crimes that matter most to local people and in boosting community confidence in the police.”
Chair of the West Yorkshire Police Authority, Councillor Mark Burns-Williamson, said, “The endorsement by the Government’s Project Review Group is very good news for West Yorkshire and an important step in a long process to delivering these important facilities in modernising the estate, particularly the custody areas. I am delighted that the Government has recognised the strength of our business case and the value for money it will secure for West Yorkshire tax payers. It is a vindication of the approach and thorough scrutiny by the Police Authority of the bid that was eventually submitted to the Home Office. This is about securing the future of key assets for policing in West Yorkshire for many years to come and also helping to stimulate the local economy.”
Assistant Chief Constable David Evans said ‘This is a very important early milestone for the project which will make an important contribution to the delivery of the Force’s neighbourhood policing strategy. The provision of modern, specially designed flexible buildings and facilities will support effective operational policing at a local level and will help us deliver services that continue to meet community expectations well into the future.”
The Project will now enter procurement, with the issue of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union to inform potential bidders of the scheme and inviting them to register their interest in bidding. The process of selecting a preferred bidder and agreeing contracts will take place over the next two years in order to ensure that the resulting facilities will be both affordable and suitable to meet the needs of the Force and the communities it serves.
It is hoped that development of the new facilities will provide job opportunities for local people, not only during the building phase, but also through associated services. |
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