Welsh Conservatives today exposed evidence that the Assembly Government halted plans for a flagship new HQ in North Wales before holding an official turf cutting ceremony to mark the start of work.
Investigations by Clwyd West AM Darren Millar, including information obtained via a Freedom of Information request, reveals that ministers knew the project need a major re-think weeks before last year’s Assembly elections.
The then Finance Minister Sue Essex and then local Labour AM Denise Idris Jones attended a turf cutting ceremony at the site, the former Hotpoint factory, in Llandudno Junction on St David’s Day 2007.
But a report to an Assembly Government management board meeting on July 20th, 2007, reveals that “a pause and review was instigated in February 2007 due to escalating costs”.
Shadow Environment Minister and Clwyd West AM Darren Millar today accused the Assembly Government of a cover-up and claimed ministers were trying to bury bad news over fears it could cost them votes in key North Wales marginal seats.
Details of the pause and review process emerged after the elections, but an email between an Assembly Government official and Design Commission Wales in March 2007 refers to “the commercially sensitive position … and the work that is under way in our pause and review”.
Other correspondence reveals concerns with the project which, it is hoped, could see 600 Assembly Government jobs located in North Wales.
The new HQ – on the site of the former Hotpoint washing machine factory overlooking the A55 – should have opened this year.
Earlier this month the Assembly Government advertised for a new contractor for its Llandudno Junction offices and expressed a hope that the HQ would be open by summer 2010.
Darren Millar AM said:
“This is extremely concerning news. It would appear the Assembly Government knew full-well that the project was on hold before they agreed to take part in a turf cutting ceremony at the site.
“Ministers were obviously desperate to generate some good news in Labour’s marginal North Wales constituencies before last year’s Assembly elections. Not that it did them much good.
“The way this project has been handled from the start raises serious questions about the Assembly Government’s ability to properly manage large developments such as this.
“While we all want to see prestigious public sector projects such as this being developed in North Wales they must be done so with the utmost transparency.
“The people of North Wales deserve some answers as to when and why a decision was taken to put this project on hold, why ministers pressed ahead with the turf cutting ceremony last year, and whether the 2010 target completion date is any more realistic than the others we have had over the last few years.”