This consultation is now closed, all feedback will be reported to the Fire & Rescue Authority on 11th November and a final report published.
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority (MFRS) has begun a 12-week consultation on proposed changes to emergency response cover in the Aintree and Croxteth areas. The consultation will run from 15th July to 7th October 2021.
This public consultation follows a previous period of consultation on the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) for 2021-24 which first outlined the plans. Participants supported the proposals to build a new Training & Development Academy and super-station were completely reasonable. The Fire & Rescue Authority approved this project following this strong public support.
We now want to consult with stakeholders in more detail on the operational implications of:
- The proposed combining of Aintree and Croxteth Fire Stations including the Training & Development Academy (TDA), closing both stations, in order to create a new multi pump super-station and state of the art TDA and National Resilience Centre of Excellence on Long Lane, Aintree, Liverpool (subject to Fire & Rescue Authority and planning approval). Fire & Rescue Services visiting from around the country will bring social and economic benefits to the area.
The outcome of the consultation will be reported back to MFRA following the conclusion of the consultation period.
The consultation will involve three public meetings and three focus groups (either online or in person depending on COVID-19 restrictions). As well as seeking views from the public, consultation will also take place with staff based at Aintree and Croxteth, MFRS’ staff networks and trade unions and staff associations.
The public meetings for this consultation will be held at Service Headquarters and online.
Two online public meetings will be held via Zoom, if you would like to attend, please follow the links below to register.
Public Meeting 1 (21st September)
Public Meeting 2 (22nd September)
There will also be an in-person public meeting held at our Service Headquarters in Bridle Road, Bootle on Thursday 23rd September 2021. You can register to attend the meeting via Eventbrite here.
A detailed consultation document has been developed, which you can view on our website here, with some of the key points as follows:
- Aintree Fire Station and Croxteth Fire Station opened in 1926 and 1962 respectively and despite having been modernised as much as possible, the buildings are not capable of offering the accessible, larger modern facilities today’s firefighters and the local community need
- Extensive research and review of other sites was carried out, with multiple sites ruled out for reasons including availability, size, and building restrictions -the proposed site at Long Lane in Aintree is almost equidistant between the existing stations and offers an improved response time- every second counts
- The Service has managed station mergers across Merseyside with great success and uses three years of data, mapping software and algorithms to predict future performance
- The proposed new site is ideally located close to identified areas of potential risk, including a prison, a hospital, major sports venues, waste recycling centres, industrial centres, retail parks and major road networks
- The new station would enable night cover at all times - as Aintree currently relies on surrounding stations to provide a night time response
- Recent new stations at Saughall Massie, Prescot and St. Helens have provided superb facilities for firefighters as they go about their training and duties and have also provided accessible community rooms for local groups to use- the proposed new station will offer the same benefits
You can take part in the consultation through our online survey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TDALongLane_Merger, by email to consultation2@merseyfire.gov.uk, or by letter to Jackie Sutton, IRMP Officer, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services Headquarters, Bridle Road, Bootle L34YD. We look forward to reading your comments.
The consultation closes on 7th October 2021.
You can find out more about the equality and diversity impacts of our proposals on our website here. We believe the changes will have a positive impact on our staff and communities, but you can read more about that in our equality impact assessment.