Proposals for the development of a borough based custody centre for Croydon BOCU at Windmill Road

Report: 10
Date: 15 July 2010
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing and the Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

linked to exempt item 18

Summary

A detailed custody business case report recommending the provision of custody centres in each London Borough to meet long term custody needs was presented to Investment Board and approved in February 2006. This was approved by the Finance Committee as part of the MPA / MPS Estate Strategy in February 2006.

The need to provide further custody provision throughout the MPA estate to support MPS operations is widely accepted and funding has been included within the approved Programme Budget in the current 7 year Capital Programme presented to the MPA in November 2009.

This report requests authorisation to proceed with the development of a 40 cell custody centre on the site at Windmill Road, Croydon, to support operational needs.

A. Recommendations

The Committee is asked to approve the following:

1. Approve the development of a 40 Cell BBCC at Windmill Road Croydon for Croydon BOCU, in line with the approved strategy.
2. Approve the Capital project budget allocation of £18.116m from the approved overall programme budget.
3. Approve the inclusion of a Safer Neighbourhoods base within the development.
4. Note that the Construction Contract will be procured through the Improvement and Efficiency South East (IESE), formerly South East Centre of Excellence (SECE) framework as approved by MPA Finance Committee in November 2007.
5. Delegate authority to MPS through the approved scheme of delegation to approve the letting of contracts, within the approved project budget allocation

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA/S Estates Strategy highlights the need to provide a ‘template’ solution to Borough (BOCU) based policing. The roll out of BOCU based asset plans is dependent on unlocking the current challenges surrounding custody facilities. Until suitable facilities are made available, much of the existing portfolio will need to be retained.

2. The quality of accommodation within the BOCU estate has been widely reported, as has the inefficiency of locationally dispersed cell provision.

3. With continuing operational pressures, the need to meet Government targets and to tackle crime effectively, property solutions are required to address operational policing needs. Custody provision and the use of custody facilities is one element of this.

4. A detailed custody ‘Business Case’ report was presented to the MPS Investment Board and approved in February 2006. This report highlighted the need to address custody provision on a short, medium and long-term basis. The need for a new model of building provision for custody and criminal justice is accepted, but a major concentration of cells is not practicable as there is a dis-economy of scale issue in terms of buildings and staffing. There is a need to achieve best value and best management of available facilities - at the same time.

5. The longer term solution which was approved was the provision of Borough Based Custody Centres of appropriate size through a combination of the continued use of current fit for purpose suites, extending suitable facilities or the provision of new builds as required. It is currently anticipated that there will be a total of 33 centres of 30 cells each, although the number of cells can be flexed to meet operational demands.

6. Croydon borough currently has 24 cells over two sites with an average yearly arrest rate over the past three years of 11637, and an average cell occupancy rate in 2008 of 12.45 hours. This does not account for the increased number of bails and re-bails that have occurred as a result of statutory charging. In 2008, a total of 12,065 arrests resulted in 4729 detainees being bailed and re-bailed. This further increases cell occupancy time and increases the demand for more cell capacity.

7. This throughput of detainees places Croydon at the top of the MPS table for cell occupancy, clearly highlighting its need for increased cell capacity.

8. A recent inspection by the Custody Directorates' Operation Herald Team described the condition of both suites as poor, highlighting the need for major renovation work. In fact during FY 08/09, £77,653 was spent on these suites in necessary maintenance, which is in the top three highest for MPS suites. Croydon officers regularly have to take detainees to custody suites on other BOCUs due to the lack of cell availability on Croydon. Therefore providing Croydon with a 40 cell site will ensure that all of Croydon's prisoners can be dealt with on the BOCU, thus making substantial efficiencies for the MPS in officer transport costs.

9. Currently Croydon are not enjoying any economy of scale from their custody provision due to the fact that they have two sites. It is much more cost effective to deal with detainees at one site only as less staff are needed to deal with the same number of detainees.

10. The proposed site, the disused TDZ traffic garage, lies in a suitable location for the borough close to the town centre. It has good road links with access to the A213, A235, A212, A23 and A222 all within easy reach. Croydon town centre is the largest retail and office environment outside central London. The town centre and railway stations are about a 15 minute walk away, or a five minute drive.

11. An Operational Suitability Assessment for the site was carried out by the Croydon Command Team. This shows overwhelming support for this project from both staff and partners.

12. Additional information is provided in exempt Appendix 1.

C. Race and equality impact

An Equalities Impact assessment is being prepared by the BOCU with input from Property Services and DoI.

The new facilities will be compliant to part M of the building regulations, including the implementation of “Inclusive Design” principles, which will consider the ease of access to, and circulation within the building, together with requirements for facilities for disabled people

D. Financial implications

1. In July 2009 the Finance & Resources committee approved a revised Programme Level capital budget covering the period from 2009 to 2015 of £126.73 m for the Custody Centre and Patrol Base Programme.

2. Individual Projects approved against this budget so far include Waltham Forest BBCC (£13.6m) and Barking & Dagenham Combined (£17.76m) totalling £31.36m.

3. The anticipated total budget for this project is £18.116 m

4. The anticipated expenditure profile for the proposed project budget is shown below in Table 1

Capital (£000):

• 2010/11: 2,500
• 2011/12: 15,500
• 2012/13: 116
• Total: 18,116

8. The Revenue implications of this project for PSD have already been factored into medium term financial plans (MTFP). The impact on DoI will be an additional requirement for £0.2m a year which will be included in future MTFP planning by DoI offset against savings made from building closures.

9. Additional information is provided in exempt Appendix 1

E. Legal implications

1. The approvals sought within the recommendations set out in Section A of this report are within the powers of the Finance and Resources sub- Committee/Resources Committee. This report is submitted to the MPS Governance Board as part of the governance process and no legal issues arise.

2. The intention in Recommendation No. 5 is to request the Finance and Resources sub-Committee/Resources Committee to approve that the Contracts Board has the authority to let a contract up to £18.116m [Approved Capital Project Budget] rather than the normal £5m limit. The MPA have previously agreed this approach on similar projects of similar value procured through the same SECE route.

F. Environmental implications

The building will be designed to achieve an excellent BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Measurement) rating and incorporate the provision of 20% renewable energy.

The anticipated environmental implications are tabulated below:

G. Background papers

• MPA Finance Committee Papers dated 19 September 2007 – Appointments to the Custody Centre and Patrol Base Programmes utilising the SECE Major Works Framework

H. Contact details

Report author(s): Peter Ross, Divisional Director, Programme Delivery

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Abbreviations

• MPA FC Metropolitan Police Authority – Finance Committee
• BOCU Borough Operational Command Unit
• CDM Construction Design Management
• DLS Department of Legal Services
• MIB Met Intelligence Bureau
• MPA Metropolitan Police Authority
• MPS Metropolitan Police Service
• OGC Office of Government Commerce
• PSD Property Services Department
• SN Safer Neighbourhoods
• TP Territorial Police
• TPHQ Territorial Police Headquarters
• OJEU Official Journal of European Union
• SO Specialist Operations
• CO Central Operations
• DoI Department of Information
• SECE South East Centre of Excellence
• IESE Improvement & Efficiency South East (New name for SECE)
• MTFP Medium Term Financial Planning

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