Given that the backlog of maintenance costs is circa £28 million what steps has the PSNI taken to address these escalating maintenance costs and what are the future ramifications for the estate if maintenance is not undertaken?
Primarily, we recognise that the long term solution to the problem of increasing backlog maintenance is to develop a funded Estates Strategy that is aligned to future operational policing needs.
In recent years, we have actively highlighted the growing pressures on the PSNI Estate to the Department of Justice and Department of Finance. As a result, in the last two years we have received funding from the In-year Monitoring Rounds to help alleviate the backlog maintenance. This additional funding was welcome but doesn’t address the underlying position.
Our focus is now on the need to make a compelling case to Government to secure the required additional funding to help transform the estate in a way that is sustainable in future years. This is an area where we would welcome the active support of the Policing Board.
In the short term, PSNI are increasing the staff within Estates Services Branch to better manage the associated risks and we will continue to seek additional funding to tackle Priority 1 maintenance requirements.
Ultimately, if sufficient funding is not directed to addressing backlog maintenance then there is a real risk of PSNI being forced to vacate some premises as they will no longer be a safe place of work.