Fire and police will team up to renovate Telford station

The two services will work together to price up the plans to renovate or rebuild Telford Central on Stafford Park.

Their intentions were confirmed during a meeting of the Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority, where bosses refused to be drawn out on their opinions to Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion’s plans to also run the Fire Service.

If the intention to build a new fire station or renovate the current buildings come to fruition, West Mercia Police will have training facilities on the premises and will cover some of the costs involved.

Members of the Fire Authority agreed that the project should be progressed after nearly £847,000 had to be added on to last year’s plans for Telford Central due to inflation.

Initial estimates indicate that rebuilding Telford Central could cost as much as £12,709,000, while a refurbishment would cost in the region of £10,717,000, both of which include eight per cent inflation over last year and the increased costs of including the police.

But those initial estimates could go up or down as plans are properly priced as part of the “tender assessment” stage.

Bosses are also looking at a “hybrid” model in a bid to get the best deal, where they will speak to architects about their needs and then make a decision based on which parts of the current building can be retained.

Mr Campion said he was committed to working with the fire service on the joint costing of the plans.

Councillor Miles Hosken, who is on the board of the Fire Authority, called the current site “abysmal”, adding that it was important for the people of Telford to get an improved fire station.

“The staff at Telford Fire Station require better,” he said.

“The fire station at Telford is abysmal compared to what’s in Shrewsbury and at other structures around the country. Telford is the fastest growing area in many counties. We’ve got the greatest number of people living in the community, who are being let down.

“The finance is the main thing, but the second thing is the public perception of what’s happening in their area. The public in Telford are very upset that they are feeling downgraded.”

Now a team will be put together to price up the plans before a decision is made on whether the work should go ahead.

The topic of John Campion’s plans to have a joint commissioner of both police and fire services in Shropshire was also on the agenda during the meeting.

Chief Fire Officer Rod Hammerton said that that he had a meeting with members of staff at Shropshire Fire and rescue about the current consultation, which is set to last three months. But, he said, it was important for the information to be given out in an impartial way.

“We are purely trying to make sure adequate consultation takes place to allow the leaders of our various organisations to make their decisions,” he said. “We will be provoking our staff to have a response, but we certainly won’t be directing them in any direction as to which response they should have.”

The Fire Authority is expected to take a stance on the plans and issue a statement in the coming days.

During the meeting they agreed to funding for the extension of the fire service’s investment in technology.

The use of technology could make Shropshire Fire and Rescue more efficient, despite massive improvements since the beginning of its Transformation Programme in 2012.

The Authority agreed to transfer £262,000 to continue the scheme, which was set to end after an extension last year, supporting “in-house technical development and technical collaboration with Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.”

But despite planning to work with the other service, the money granted will be used entirely within Shropshire. Any cost of the collaboration will be picked up by Hereford and Worcester’s fire team.

During the discussion, Mr Hammerton was asked about the chance of the service being brought to a standstill by hackers, after issues with the NHS earlier this year.

He said: “We are mostly at the cutting edge in Shropshire.

“While we’re confident in technology, we have a long history of defaulting to other resilient solutions. Eventually we’ll end up with a telephone and a piece of paper to make sure we can get fire engines out.

“We’ve got a lot of fall backs in place before we get to that, but I have ultimate confidence that should any of our primary devices fail, there’s several layers of resilience before we fail to do what the public require us to do.”