Firefighters are being consulted on plans which could see two of Cumbria's emergency service headquarters move to Penrith.
Cumbria County Council's Emergency Planning Unit is currently based at Carlisle Castle - 26 miles away from the county’s Fire and Rescue Service headquarters in Cockermouth
Under proposals put forward this week, the two emergency services would be moved to one site at Kemplay Bank roundabout alongside a fire station for Penrith.
As well as providing important strategic access to all four points of the compass via the M6 and A66, the site would also improve inter-agency emergency planning work, with the police and Primary Care Trust also head-quartered nearby.
Fire chiefs have already received preliminary backing from the government to replace several ageing stations in the north and west of the county through an £11 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
The relocation of the county’s Emergency Planning Unit and Fire and Rescue Service headquarters would be funded as part of the same project
Early next year, Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service will make its final submission to the Treasury Project Review Group which will decide if the PFI scheme can move to the next stage.
Cockermouth fire station would not be affected by the proposals.
Detailed evaluation work is currently taking place to test the feasibility of the plan before any planning permission is sought. If the plans went ahead, the new facility would become operational sometime in 2011.
Cumbria’s Chief Fire Officer Dominic Harrison said: "As part of the PFI project to build a new generation of community fire stations build at sites in the north and west of the county, we want to explore whether the county’s response to major emergencies would be improved by moving our headquarters and the county council's Emergency Planning Unit to Penrith."
ENDS
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