A new “flagship” fire station will decrease response times in North Liverpool and prepare Merseyside for “all foreseeable risks”.
Liverpool Council has given the go-ahead for proposal by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) for a new fire station to be built on land formerly occupied by Commercial Hydraulics on Long Lane, Fazakerley. The new station will combine existing locations at Croxteth and Aintree, boosting response times in both areas in the process.
A new two-storey building will be constructed consisting of four appliance bays, incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and training facilities, external drill and training spaces, as well as a four storey training tower. A training and development academy (TDA) including classrooms, offices, dining space, indoor training facilities and a community meeting room would also be built alongside a mock motorway and railway for training drills.
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A canine training base will be incorporated as part of the proposals. Dawn Coward, on behalf of MFRS, said the project represented “an excellent opportunity for redevelopment of the site” and would be split into three zones including training, operational and community areas.
Ms Coward said the new station would be a “flagship” building for the fire and rescue service. Chief fire officer Phil Garrigan said the current Aintree site was only served by a crew during the day.
He said overall response times across North Liverpool will improve on average by 34 seconds. The chief fire officer added that MFRS wants to address all foreseeable risks for Merseyside and have a facility that ensures they are able to do so.
The currently vacant site’s primary function is to be a centre of excellence for the training of firefighters, with more than 60 firefighters based in Fazakerley all working to a 24-hour shift pattern with 15 on duty during each shift. Around 50 administrative/training staff would also work on site during normal office hours.
The MFRS’ aspiration is to grow and enhance their training offer and ultimately become a centre of excellence and national training, which would increase employment opportunities at the site in addition to redeploying more than 40 members of staff currently involved in training delivery at the Croxteth site. An additional 20 firefighter posts would be created at the new station as well as one new support staff role, two part time Prince’s Trust course leaders, one commercial member of staff, one full-time Facilities Management team member and one additional assurance team member for National Resilience.
More than a dozen national resilience staff will also be seconded to the new development from stations across the UK. A public consultation was launched by MFRS into the proposals from July to October last year.
Recommending approval, committee chair Cllr Tony Concepcion said he really welcomed the new station and community access would give people the opportunity to see “the dangerous job our fire services does”.
