A NEW police station intended to be a deterrent to criminals using one of South Wales’ major roads is set to be approved when councillors meet tomorrow, Tuesday. 

The new Abergavenny Police Station will be located at Llanfoist, on a roundabout off the A465 Heads of the Valleys road, on land between an existing highways depot and Merthyr Road. Its claimed the out-of-town location will aid in the fight against ‘county lines’ drug gangs.

Abergavenny has been without a police station since 2019, when the former town centre base was closed and redeveloped as retirement apartments.

While the new station is described as a long-term home for Gwent Police’s Abergavenny neighbourhood policing and response team, the station won’t be open to the general public, unless they have been asked to attend for an informal interview, neither will it have cells. 

The two-storey building will be used by officers as a day-to-day hub with welfare facilities, such as a gym, lockers, a multi-faith room and kitchen, on the ground floor and first floor predominately used as office space. There will also be a room for “informal interviews” with the public. 

Members of the public will have to use an intercom to speak with officers based at the station if they have been asked to attend, or a yellow police phone at the front entrance to contact emergency police services.

The lack of public access has prompted concerns from a former councillor and the Abergavenny and District Civic Society, who made comments as part of the planning application consultation.

It said: “The applicants make it quite clear that the building is to be used for operational needs of the police ‘business’ and is not for normal public access; the public-facing police presence will be in the town centre. Many local residents may feel that the town centre presence is insufficient to deal with in-town problems.”

It added: “It would appear to be misleading to label the building ‘Abergavenny Police Station’ when it does not encourage public access. The public expect to be able to go to ‘the police station’ to report an incident, to produce their driving licence, etc.” 

The plans were lodged back in April this year and then-councillor Giles Howard said he was unsure of its wider benefits to the town. 

He said: “I should think that many residents will be glad that there would appear to be an obvious police presence in Llanfoist. 

“I realise that it will also be beneficial for police officers to have a local base, it appears that unlike the former station there will be no custody cells and that those arrested will continue to be taken to Monmouth or elsewhere. I realise that this is not a planning matter per se, but my overriding thoughts are whether or not this development is actually going to have any practical benefit to residents and improve response times, or just be a welfare and daytime office base.” 

A report, prepared for the planning committee by council officers, said the building’s use is reflected in its “warehouse/office facility” design while it is also intended to be seen from the Heads of the Valleys road, which connects Abergavenny to Neath, and be a deterrent for travelling criminals. 

The report states: “The building’s functional appearance is intended to act as a deterrent to commit crime for anybody passing the site via the heads of the valley road including county lines drug traffickers.” 

The Design Commission for Wales described the architecture of the building as ‘very aggressive’ and in response, the planning agents for Gwent Police, said: “Ensuring a strong visual presence will give a positive message to the community that a strong police presence is located in this area; the building has been designed and positioned to act as a deterrent to persons utilising the head of the valley road for criminal activities.” 

However the design has been amended with grey and black materials for the walls changed to lighter cream bricks with light grey cladding above in response to the Design Commission’s concerns that were also shared by Monmouthshire planning officers and the civic society. 

There will also be 18 trees around the site, with hedgerow and wildflower planting, and existing trees will be retained where possible. A pond that forms part of the site will also be retained but will not be accessible to the public. 

Entrance will be from an existing roundabout, connecting to the A465 Heads of the Valleys road, while emergency vehicles will use an access on to the B road.  

Gwent Police will operate an exclusion zone around the site, which means that use of sirens and blue lights will be minimised when immediately exiting the site to reduce the impact on the nearby Premier Inn Hotel and Brewers Fayre restaurant.

Talks are continuing with the Welsh Government’s trunk road agency over the design of the access, and the police station gates could be moved further back from the road than the current 12 metres which could have a knock on impact on the building layout. However if councillors approve the plans they are being asked to delegate further decisions to officers. 

The site will have a total of 30 parking spaces, including five standard electric vehicle charging spaces and two accessible spaces including one accessible electric vehicle charging bay. 

There will also be four large parking spaces for police vans including two electric vehicle charging bays. There will also be storage space for 20 bicycles. 

Councillors, who will meet on Tuesday afternoon (September 6), are being recommended to approve the application. 

It is going before the planning committee as part of the land is outside of the development plan area but is considered a brownfield site adjacent to a business park.