New £1m fire & police station
North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott, who took over from Julia Mulligan last May, has told the Gazette that the new building should be operational in 14 months on the current site.
“It’s going to be the first modular build combined police and fire in North Yorkshire and it will be built and completed with a time scale of 14 months but I am hoping it will be open in 12 months,” said Mr Allott.
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Hide Ad“The current fire station is a 1950s fire station and the police have been working out of there for the last two years.
“After issues they have had with the facilities, I decided to go and meet the fire station manager and also Inspector Alex Langley of North Yorkshire Police.
“It was a general agreement that the facilities are just not fit for purpose in terms of what we want for 21st century fire and policing.
“As a result of that I asked for urgent reports to be commissioned and put before my executive board meeting last Tuesday and we have repositioned funds from the capital account. What I have said is this has to be a number one priority and I signed it off as an executive decision.”
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Hide AdMr Allott confirmed that a sum of £1,162,000 across police and fire budgets has been approved to upgrade the estate.
“It will be very much state-of-the art and we will be using it to use as a template to roll out across North Yorkshire.”
A planning application will soon be submitted to Harrogate Borough Council.
Mr Allott added: “There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done on the site there.
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Hide Ad“There is an old smoke tower that needs to be demolished and some out buildings will be removed off site.
“We have made an allowance, because of the gypsum faults, to accommodate any remedial work to make sure we can stay the course.”