Union hits out at £13m plan to rebuild fire service’s headquarters

THE firefighters union has welcomed news that a £2.2m fire station is to be built in Keighley, but questioned a £13m proposal to rebuild the fire service’s Birkenshaw headquarters.

A recent financial report by West Yorkshire Fire Authority revealed a number of major projects, funded by capital reserves, that the service is looking to carry out in the coming years.

These include a £2.2m newbuild fire station in Keighley in the 2020/21 financial year, followed by a £2.5m new-build station in Halifax in 2021/22, and a £3m new-build station in Huddersfield in 2022/23.

The financial plan also includes £13m that will be set aside for a “Fire Service Headquarters new-build”.

It gives no further details of this project, although it is not scheduled to happen in the next four years.

The fire service said it was looking at “options to redevelop all or some of the building” – based on a large site off Bradford Road, Birkenshaw. The service confirmed plans to replace or refurbish Keighley’s nearly 55-yearold fire station on Bradford Road last year, but there have been few details since.

Dave Williams, Yorkshire and Humber regional secretary for the Fire Brigades Union, said the service didn’t need to be spending £13m on its headquarters at a time when many other services were being cut.

“I don’t think they should be moving this money out of reserves when we could be using it to keep firefighters on pumps and keep fire stations open,” he said.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said: “We are currently undertaking a feasibility study into options to redevelop all or some of our headquarters buildings at our site in Birkenshaw.

“Currently, the buildings on the site are ageing and require excessive maintenance.”