Wednesday 22 October 2014

New Fire Station for Hexham

Detailed planning proposals for a new fire station in Hexham will be submitted to the County Council this week.

It follows a nine-week public consultation on plans to relocate Hexham Fire Station to a site at Hexham General Hospital. The Fire Station is currently based down at Tyne Mills Industrial Estate. The project will  involve altering and extending the existing buildings at the rear of the hospital site.

The consultation raised some concerns about fire engines leaving the site with blue lights and sirens on onto Maidens Walk which is a residential street. The County Council says it has taken these concerns on board and redesigned the plans to ensure that all fire engines will now exit the site onto Corbridge Road and only return to the Station via Maidens Walk.

Speaking about the plans Alex Bennett, chief fire officer at Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, said: “These plans provide us with the opportunity to provide a dedicated community fire station on the hospital site which would bring a number of benefits for both the service and the local community. The consultation exercise has proved very useful and we thank everyone who got involved. It also allowed us to address some of their concerns by redesigning the plans and reversing the traffic flow to and from the site.”

The plans will be considered by the County Council’s planning committee early next year.

To see the final consultation report go to:
www.northumberland.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=16544