Signage plans submitted for town’s new police station

Work on a new police base in Wrexham town centre could soon be coming to an end – with an application submitted to place signage on the building.

The plans, submitted on behalf on North Wales Police, are for the new ‘front of house facility’ in the former Oriel Gallery section of the Wrexham Library.

It is noted in the application documents that such signage would be in place from April 1st 2019 until April 1st 2039, giving a possible hint to a completion time for the well overdue project.

Rumours of the relocation from the now closed police tower on Bodhyfryd over to a new town centre base in the library building were first mooted back in summer 2014  as part of what was then the proposed ‘arts and markets hub’ in the former Peoples Market.

Plans for the relocation and new development were submitted to Wrexham Council in September 2015 and include a section of new frontage being built to house office space and new reception areas.

The application was debated several times by members of the planning committee in late 2015 / early 2016, with concerns raised about the loss of blue badge parking spaces. However the proposals were granted approval in February 2016.

The former gallery has been made available to North Wales Police on a 10-year leasing arrangement with Wrexham County Borough Council – with work converting the former gallery space into a smaller police facility starting in May 2017.

A press release issued at the time said that works on the site were expected to take 44 weeks to complete and that the station would be up and running by July 2018. However delays have meant that the town centre policing team are now temporarily based in Crown Buildings whilst works are completed – with other officers and staff moving to the new state-of-the-art divisional headquarters in Llay.

The relocation to the new station in Llay and eventual opening of the town centre police base represents the end of an era for the tower block station on Bodhyfryd.

Opened in March 1974 the police tower has continued to divide opinions over the years, with some seeing it as a unique part of the town’s skyline with others describing it as a concrete monstrosity.

Although a date for demolition has yet to be confirmed, the site was last year sold to Lidl – who later submitted plans to use the land to build a new supermarket and drive-thru coffee shop.

If the plans are approved it will be the third Lidl supermarket in Wrexham and the third in the Bodhyfryd vicinity – with Asda and Tesco located nearby.

The supermarket itself will be located to the southwest of the site and is expected to be open 7am to 10pm Monday to Saturdays and for a six-hour period between 10am and 5pm on Sundays.

It is estimated that the supermarket will require “between 25-40 employees depending on full and part-time make up to operate efficiently”. A further 20 jobs could be created for the drive-thru coffee shop.

The plans for the site are expected to be debated by the council’s planning committee at a later date.

You can view our video of the final day of the police station tower / Bodhyfryd station below: