Fire chiefs set to move to police headquarters - The Redditch Standard

Fire chiefs set to move to police headquarters

Redditch Editorial 23rd Oct, 2014 Updated: 18th Oct, 2016   0

BOSSES at the fire services are set to move in with police chiefs in a bid to save money.

If approval is given, the headquarters of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service will relocate from the outskirts of Worcester to join West Mercia Police at Hindlip Hall.

The move has been funded by £1.89million from the Government’s Transformation Fund and bosses claim it will foster a ‘closer working relationship between the two blue light services’.

A second project, which has attracted £2.38million of funding, will create a new Wyre Forest blue light hub to relocate the three existing fire stations in the Wyre Forest area – Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport – into a new purpose-built centrally located station.




It is thought the new building would have space for police and ambulance colleagues as well as for Severn Area Rescue Association.

Coun Derek Prodger, chairman of the Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “The Fire and Rescue Authority welcomes any additional money to support projects that help us sustain our services into the future, so we are especially pleased that both of our grant bids were successful.”


He added there was a lot of detail which now needed to be worked up and presented to the authority before any approvals could be given.

Chief fire officer Mark Yates said: “While we are pleased with the success of our bids, we will always have public and firefighter safety as our first concern.

“Whilst I appreciate that any change in the services we provide can be unsettling for our staff as well as local communities, I can assure all parties that there will be a full public consultation on the Wyre Direst project, and we’ll be working with local communities and their representatives to make sure that the projects, if approved, are successfully delivered without any adverse impact on the essential services we provide.”

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