GWENT chief constable Jeff Farrar praised the work of the 9,500 officers who helped police the Newport Nato summit and said only two complaints were made over the course of the week.

Mr Farrar said he still has three to six months’ more work to do following the summit, including scrutinising money spent and making sure Gwent taxpayers did not pick up the bill.

He said two to three officers will be working full time over the next three months to make sure that Gwent Police is not affected financially by the extensive police operation and that assets are returned to forces across the UK.

He told the Gwent Police and Crime Panel yesterday: “First of all, a lot of messages we put out in advance worked.

“I drove up on the Malpas Road on the Thursday and it was quieter than when the snow came down.

“If you tell people in advance, they’ll sort their lives out.

“As a consequence, there was almost a carnival atmosphere. I was walking around and seeing those 9,500 officers engaging with young people and older people.

“To pull that off with a force the size of Gwent as successfully as we did, that goes down to planning.”

Mr Farrar added that there were 29 different sites to patrol, including Celtic Manor.

He added: “We did a number of attempts to get service personnel to access Celtic Manor and those were the best possible people we could use and all failed.

“The police had only two complaints during the whole of the summit, both in Cardiff and both were for incivility.

“Most forces of that size would celebrate going a week with only two complaints.”

The panel also heard a victim support hub is to be opened in Blackwood to make sure victims of crime in Gwent are kept in the loop about their case.

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gwent Ian Johnston said: “We’ve spoken earlier about changing our culture and putting victims at the centre of what we do.

“One of the biggest complaints is from victims of crime who say ‘the police were very good but they never came back to me’.”

Mr Johnston said the hub, which could see the Blackwood Police Social Club be put to use, will be fully operational by April.

He added: “It’s going to be totally different to what we had before.

“It will mean that victims will get a better service from police.

“There will be people ringing up victims and asking ‘how was it’, ‘what sort of service did we give’, ‘do you need anything from us’.

“They will also tell them where the inquiry is and who is the officer in the case.”

The Ministry of Justice has given a one-off payment of £200,000 to set up the hub with £600,000 to be given each year to run it.

Community safety was also discussed by the Police and Crime Panel with Mr Johnston outlining plans to hire someone to oversee safety projects on a Gwent-wide level.

He said: “When the PCCs were brought in, some of the money for community safety was actually channelled to the commissioner’s office and not to local authorities. We aim to control it from the centre in terms of delivery and finance. There will still be councillors responsible in each authority but there are things we can do on a Gwent-wide level.”

The central authority with oversee projects such as helping people feel safe in their community by tackling anti-social behaviour.