Emails and documents obtained under the Official Information Act show police wanted construction to continue through December, rather than stop until mid-January as has been decided.
They also show police disagreed with the "pedestrian priority feel" intended for the police station’s driveway into Great King St, which is in the bus hub area.
Construction of the Otago Regional Council project outside the Dunedin Central Police Station was meant to finish this month, but has been repeatedly delayed, drawing the ire of nearby business owners.
In response to an email in which regional council project manager Derek Walsh said the council was considering halting construction during December, leaving the street open for access to shops over the Christmas period, Otago Coastal area executive officer for police, Sue-Ellen Moore, of Dunedin, said police wanted construction to continue through December.
However, in a subsequent email Mr Walsh noted a "majority of attendees" at a meeting were in favour of stopping work and restarting again mid-January, and the council had proceeded with plans to leave the site around the end of this month.
Police concerns with the project did not end there.
Earlier documents show police representatives indicated at a meeting they wanted the police station driveway into Great King St to "look and feel like it is a vehicle priority area".
But Dunedin City Council and regional council representatives believed a "pedestrian priority feel" would be more appropriate, according to the notes.
The meeting ended in a compromise where road markings would be removed from the driveway and the footpath level would be retained, to indicate a degree of pedestrian priority, but tactile paving would be laid at either side of the driveway to provide some indication of vehicle priority.
A month later police raised concerns about a plan to close the Great King St entrance to the police station during construction.
"This is going to create a few headaches for us in terms of first-responder vehicles (as well as parking and other vehicles’ access, but they are not my primary concern)," Ms Moore wrote.
She sought permission from the city council to park marked police cars along Cumberland St to ensure they were readily available.
After questioning why they were needed when police could use the station’s driveway into Cumberland St for parking, a city council staffer agreed to allow the two parks for police use.
The documents also highlight an issue surrounding the regional council’s plan to install CCTV cameras in the hub and that police raised privacy concerns regarding the plan to display CCTV footage on screens within the hub.
Responding this week to questions about the various concerns police raised with the council, Ms Moore said they had been "addressed in a timely manner and either resolved immediately or we are working together on a mutually positive resolution".
Regional council corporate services director Nick Donnelly said the council appreciated that police had changed their operational procedures to take into account the intermittent closure of the Great King St exit.
The council had a good working relationship with the police, he said.
Council transport group manager Richard Saunders said the questioning of the need for extra parks in Cumberland St was standard procedure before changes to parking restrictions were made.
Mr Saunders said all driveways along Great King St were pedestrian priority and the council was happy with the design of the police driveway.
