Toxic mould, water damage and holes still plague police station
Greymouth police staff are still working in a building plagued with mould issues, as the town has nowhere else for them to go.
A decision to close Greymouth police station was announced in April, after a failed battle against invasive black mould caused by the roof leaking for many years.
But with no other suitable premises in Greymouth available, up to 30 staff are still in the building, while 15 are working out of the Westland Recreation Centre because some staff were told to stop working in the building after health assessments.
Grey mayor Tania Gibson said she – plus the West Coast’s three other mayors, and the chairpersons of Development West Coast, the West Coast Regional Council, Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae – wrote to Police Minister Mark Mitchell in February, asking him to investigate a solution.
They have not received a reply, and a spokesperson for Mitchell said it was an operational police matter.
Gibson said it was not good enough for police, who provided such an important service to the community, to be essentially homeless.
“I’m concerned about the welfare of staff. What they are going through, it’s not on.”
She said the town needed a new police station 30 years ago. “Now we need to find a solution. I don’t believe sticking a new roof on the existing station is going to fix the problem.”
The letter from the West Coast leaders to Mitchell said the building was in a dire, deteriorating state, making conditions unsafe for staff and members of the community.
At the end of last year, 55 staff either had to work from home or from a booze bus parked on the footpath outside the old station. Staff often had to wear masks to protect their health.
The letter said the station needed more than a quick fix.
“Water damage, saturation of the walls, holes that have opened up and general building conditions, as well as the continuation of monthly thermal fogging and disruption all suggest it would be a waste of time and money to apply a BandAid approach to this building.”
It was the West Coast’s main police station, and a critical base for frontline emergency staff deployed to the region in the event of an Alpine Fault rupture or other natural disaster, the letter said.
Police Association regional director Paul Hampton said Greymouth staff were “very frustrated”.
“It came to a little bit more of a head when some staff had voluntary health assessments and were advised they shouldn’t be working in that building.”
West Coast police area commander Jacqui Corner said work was continuing to arrange alternative accommodation.
About 25 to 30 staff were still working at the Greymouth station in shifts, so were not all there at the same time, she said. Up to four were working out of the booze bus, as and when required. The custody suite, housing the police cells, was also still being used.
About 12 to 15 staff were working from the Civil Defence Emergency Coordination Centre at the Westland Recreation Centre, and some were working from home part-time.
“We are exploring longer-term solutions to address the situation ... it may take some time before we have a more permanent solution.”
The varying work sites would not affect the core policing service available to the Greymouth community, she said.