Fire service launch consultation on new fire station and training centre

WARWICKSHIRE County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service are asking residents for their views on exciting plans for a new training facility and fire station at Holywell Business Park in Southam.

The proposed new facility will incorporate a new state of the art training centre together with a new fire station to serve Southam and Warwickshire as a whole. This new fire station will replace the station site on Coventry Street and will be home to all staff from the current training centre and the retained firefighters from Southam Fire Station.

The site identified for the new facilities is an undeveloped plot of land located within the Holywell Business Park, accessed from Northfield Road. The buildings surrounding the site are used for commercial use and the nearest residential properties are some distance away.

The proposals include a new fire station, a two-storey building providing training and lecture rooms and a bespoke training facility which would include a real fire training facility. This helps to provide firefighters with a realistic training environment in which to prepare them for real life incidents such as house and building fires.

A planning application detailing the proposals will be submitted by Warwickshire County Council who will consult with Stratford District Council and Southam Town Council as part of the process.

Talking about the consultation, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Councillor John Horner said

“A new training centre and fire station will be a great asset to the Service and the local community as a whole. Currently our crews have access to a high level of training, but due to the limited resources, they do have to travel outside of Warwickshire to access additional specialist training. The training centre will mean that firefighters won’t have to travel so far, as most of the training will be able to be done right here in Warwickshire.”

Warwickshire County Council’s Project Manager, Julian Humphreys said “We have been working with local councillors on our proposals, and we would like to hear from the residents of Southam for their views on the scheme. Once our consultation is complete, we will finalise the plans and submit a planning application. We are aiming to submit the application later this year and if approved we hope to open the new facility in 2018.”