Site for proposed Dewsbury and Batley fire station is revealed

If approved, a new station and training unit will be built in Carlton Road, Batley Carr.

It would replace the existing stations in Huddersfield Road, Scout Hill, and Carlinghow Lane, Batley, which are both set to close.

The plan for the Carlton Road site, off Bradford Road, involves demolishing the existing Meadow Mills building.

A fully functional fire station and a five storey training tower would be built in its place.

Documents submitted with the planning application explain how analysis was carried out to find the safest location for a new fire station.

They also state the number of incidents has fallen so the number of fire stations in the area can be reduced.

A planning policy statement said: “To retain acceptable levels of coverage across the Batley and Dewsbury areas, the optimum location for the new fire station is considered to be around the Bradford Road.

“In the past five years there has been a dramatic reduction in the numbers of fires and associated deaths and injuries in West Yorkshire. There have also been similar reductions in the number of other emergencies responded to, for example road traffic collisions.

“By the end of 2010/11, the total number of emergency incidents attended in one year had reduced by over 29 per cent from its 2006/7 figure.”

When the station closures were announced in December 2011, fire authority chairman Coun David Ridgway said the new station would provide the same degree of cover for the areas served.

The merging of Batley and Dewsbury’s fire stations will see 24 jobs lost, but this is expected to be done through retirements rather than redundancies.

The proposal is part of an £18m plan by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to help it save £4m a year.

A total of 10 stations across the country will be replaced by five new ones. Mirfield Fire Station is unaffected.

Comments on the application can be sent to Kirklees Council until February 3.