Row over ‘make do and mend’ conditions at budget meeting

The fierce row over the tattered state of police stations across the country was kicked up a gear last week during a damning testimony in Edinburgh.

Iain Livingstone, chief constable of Police Scotland, said officers were having to “make do and mend” because of its “derisory” capital budget at a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) meeting on January 17.

It came as video footage emerged of shoddy conditions inside Pitlochry police station.

The phone footage showed evidence bags taped over plug sockets to prevent rain water pouring into them through broken window frames.

At the meeting, Mr Livingstone said: “Our capital budget is derisory for the size of organisation that we’ve got.

“We’ve come so far with our ability to make do and mend. We have come so far with officers and staff, and come so far with work-arounds.”

Photos and footage of other stations in a bedraggled condition have also emerged, including damp wires in Forfar, a bucket seemingly catching dripping water near electric sockets in Maryfield, Dundee, and a mushroominfested towel in Dunoon.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf rubbished the criticisms as “hyperbole” when challenged in Holyrood earlier this week.

He said: “I think, you know, hyperbole by describing police stations as falling apart is unhelpful.

“I don’t doubt that the Scottish Police Federation have a job to do, particularly pre-budget to try to ensure there’s the maximum amount of resources coming to the police – they wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t do that.”

The justice secretary insisted Police Scotland get a fair deal from the Scottish Government.

Mr Yousaf’s dismissal of the debate sparked an angry response from bosses in the Scottish Police Federation (SPF).

David Hamilton, SPF vice-chairman, added: “Perhaps a more appropriate comment would be to acknowledge the blindingly obvious and say what @ ScotGov is going to do about it?”

The SPF claim that one quarter of the force’s stations are in “poor condition”.