Lincolnshire unveils plans for blue lights hub

The station would be located at the existing fire and ambulance station at South Park, which the council describes as a bid to 'improve frontline services and strengthen partnerships between the emergency services in Lincoln'. The new tri-service station will house over 400 emergency services staff. 

The new station will feature a three storey building, with service specific office space, operational accommodation and shared areas. It will also include a shared appliance bay, facing South Park Avenue. The main public entrance will be at the centre of the new building, easily accessible from the main road with a dedicated visitor parking area. 

As part of the development, the existing fire training tower and workshops will be retained and refurbished to create additional operational space. Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said: "The emergency services in the county are committed to working together and providing the best possible service to Lincolnshire residents. 

“A new, purpose built shared station at South Park, will be a major step forward in blue light services working together and will ensure tax payers’ money is spent effectively and efficiently. 

“By leaving West Parade, with its costly overheads and maintenance costs, and moving to South Park and sharing with the fire and ambulance services, we can save money and encourage greater collaboration, ultimately delivering a better service for the communities we serve. 

“Negotiations are at a very advanced stage to relocate the neighbourhood policing team for the city centre into City Hall alongside the ASB and licencing teams as part of the community hub.” 

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Servcec chief fire officer Nick Borrill added: "We are delighted with the plans for the new facility at South Park. n addition to responding to incidents, preventing fires from starting is a crucial part of the work of the modern fire and rescue service - so creating closer links with our opposites in the police and ambulance service will be really beneficial in helping us to protect local residents. 

“It will also help for training, so for example, at the station, there will be a simulated search and rescue training facility and a practice road traffic collision area - great for our firefighters, police officers and ambulance crews to train together and try new ways of working. 

“We look forward to building on our relationships and I am confident that the new facility at South Park will allow us to deliver an even better service to the people of Lincoln, both now and in the coming years.” 

If approved by Lincolnshire County Council’s planning committee, the enabling works on site will start in October 2017, with full construction starting early 2018. During this period, fire crews for south Lincoln will still respond from a temporary station on the South Park site and neighbourhood policing teams will move to City Hall in Lincoln. EMAS will continue to operate from their current location on South Park Avenue. 

This element of the county’s blue light collaboration programme comes after the unveiling of the new Fire and Police HQ in Nettleham, and the announcements of the EMAS and Fire co-location in Louth as well as the intention to move Fire’s 999 control facility to co-locate with the Police at Nettleham later this year. 

The Blue Light Programme in Lincolnshire is supported by a £7.5m grant from the Government’s Police Innovation Fund and match funding from local services.