An Assembly Member who fought plans to install a needle vending machine at the back of a police station in Colwyn Bay in his constituency has called on the Assembly Government to rule out support for any similar schemes in the future.
Speaking during a debate on the Welsh Assembly Government’s new Substance Misuse Strategy in the National Assembly for Wales today, Darren Millar, AM for Clwyd West, said:-
‘We need resources to be channelled to places where there really is a need, and where we can all have the confidence that the homework has been done first.
‘Take for example in my own constituency, in Colwyn Bay, the fiasco that surrounded the very misguided attempts to install a needle vending machine close to the town centre.
‘Here, we had a project supported and part financed by the Welsh Assembly Government with no prior consultation whatsoever with the local community. It wasn’t just misguided – it was also misunderstood, mismanaged, and misadvised.
‘Thousands of pounds of tax payers money was needlessly spent, making applications, drawing up plans, seeking planning permissions and attempting overturn the decision of the local planning committee.
‘Tens of thousands - the end of which achieved nothing more than animosity between the local community and the Assembly Government for funding the project in the first place and the North Wales Police as the lead agency.
‘It was a complete waste of time and money from the outset.
‘If the homework had been done – and there’s no doubt it clearly wasn’t – precious resources could have been diverted elsewhere.
‘Even more concerning, is the fact that the Chief Constable of the North Wales Police – who still has this machine sitting in the basement at HQ in Colwyn Bay – has not ruled out resurrecting a needle vending machine project either in Colwyn Bay or elsewhere in North Wales.
‘We need to know today Minister that Assembly Government cash won’t be used to fund such a scheme in the future.’