Bureaucracy killed hangar project

Monday, November 23, 2009

A failed project for a fast jet repair facility in South Wales has been highlighted as an example of bad public sector collaboration by a Welsh Assembly committee

The Red Dragon project, which cost taxpayers £113m is a lesson in how public sector bodies "should not work together," according to the Welsh Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The ambition was to build a £134m "super hangar" to repair RAF fast jets, with an aerospace business park built, backed by the then Welsh Development Agency (WDA), which is now part of the assembly government.

The project was scrapped in 2005 when the Ministry of Defence switched its fast jet repairs to other RAF bases. It had been hoped the project would bring 4,000 jobs to the Vale of Glamorgan and modernise the ageing MoD facilities at St Athan.

A National Audit Office investigation published in March 2009 reported the project had cost the taxpayers £113m and created only 45 of the potential 4,000 jobs.

Welsh Assembly PAC chair Jonathan Morgan AM said: "This is an excellent example of how public sector bodies should not work together.

"While we accept that the basic concept and potential benefits to come from the Red Dragon Project at St Athan were sound, the committee is concerned at the way the Welsh government, WDA and Ministry of Defence worked the details out."

After the NAO report, Defence Minister Quentin Davies said lessons had been learned from the project.