WELSH Government spent an average of £175,750 a year on repairing the office in Llandudno Junction since 2018, the Minister for Finance has said.

A total of £703,000 was spent on the Conwy office in that time, with Minster for Finance and Local Government Rebecca Evans MS releasing the following yearly repair and replacement costs:

  • 2018/19: £224,000
  • 2019/20: £194,000
  • 2020/21: £103,000
  • 2021/22: £182,000

This was in response to a written question from Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders, who said Welsh Government should “hold their heads in shame” for their spending in the last four financial years.

The Aberconwy MS said: “The Welsh Labour Government should hold their heads in shame that an average of £175,750 has been spent on repairing the building every year for the last four financial years.

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“It is not as if it is an old complex.

“In fact, it was built in 2010 at a cost of around £23million of taxpayers’ pounds, so it beggars belief that almost £200,000 is spent on repairing the place annually.

“There needs to be a thorough investigation into the spend by the Welsh Government on its North Wales headquarters."

The building in Llandudno Junction was part of a £91.5 million strategy to decentralise services from Cardiff in 2002, with more than 550 posts moved from the Welsh capital to three new offices in Merthyr Tydfil, Aberystwyth and Llandudno Junction.

The construction of the Conwy building reportedly cost around £23million, and despite having more than 390 people contracted to work there, recorded an average daily attendance level of 18 people last September.

“While people are struggling to make ends meet, it is scandalous that Mark Drakeford MS, First Minister, and Rebecca Evans MS, Minister for Finance and Local Government, are allowing their financial black hole to go unplugged," said Mrs Finch-Saunders.

“Just imagine the positive difference £703,000 could have made if it had been spent on the community of Llandudno Junction rather than the Welsh Government vanity project in Aberconwy.”

All figures in the report were rounded to the nearest thousand.

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