HYNDBURN'S new £1.7m fire station is nearing completion.
The building, which has gone up on the site of the former Sharn Hall Lodge in Hyndburn Road, Church, is intended to replace the existing outdated building in Manchester Road, where the local Fire Brigade has been based for almost 60 years.
The Fire and Rescue Service believes that the new position of the fire station will provide a more efficient service for the public in the 21st century.
The station is expected to be ready by the spring, and 70 firefighters who presently operate a round-the-clock watch system at the Manchester Road station will be transferred there.
Fire appliances dealing with emergency calls will come out of the new building straight onto busy Hyndburn Road. Other routes out of the station have been investigated, but have not been acceptable to highways experts. The new building also includes a training tower.
However, the plan for the new station has been tinged with controversy on two fronts. The Fire Brigade Union has criticised the use of private finance to build it. It has claimed it will lessen the control the Fire Brigade has over the use of the building in the future. In addition, when the new station comes into operation it will mean an end to the retained fire station at Oswald-twistle.
This station is to be axed in spite of a vigorous campaign to keep it open. Local councillors have argued that a fire-fighting force based in Oswald-twistle is essential given its proximity to two chemical companies where emergency incidents have happened in the recent past.
The new station has been designed by Manchester-based architects Carden Croft and Co.
What will happen to the existing station is not clear, although it is believed that Lancashire Constabulary, which occupies part of the same building, may be interested in taking the premises over.
