Brand new fire station for Birkenhead

Jun 25 2008 by Matt Hurst, Wirral News Series

Birkenhead is in line for a brand new fire station after government gave the green light to funding.

In total, £131m has been made available to build seven new facilities across Merseyside, in Belle Vale, Bootle/Netherton, Formby, Kirkdale, Newton-le-Willows, Southport and Birkenhead.

Chief fire officer, Tony McGuirk said: “This is great news for firefighters and the public of Merseyside who can look forward to new, modern fire stations at the heart of the community.

“We will be creating the highest quality accommodation and facilities for our firefighters whilst at the same time providing better community facilities.”

Last week, Merseyside Fire Service presented the outline business case for the project to the Treasury’s Project Review Group (PRG).

The PRG oversees the approval process for local authority Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects requiring government support, and also acts as the gatekeeper of PFI credit funding.

The PRG decided the project is sufficiently well developed and will deliver value for money.

As a result, it endorsed the award of PFI credits to the value of £66.4m.

This means the project will receive funding from the government - to the value of £131m - over 25 years.

Chair of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority, Councillor Tony Newman, said: “This is an important milestone for the PFI project and we are delighted that our plans have been endorsed.

“It will allow us to develop great community fire stations and help us expand the important community and preventative work that has helped halve fire deaths and injuries in Merseyside.”

As part of the scheme, a further nine stations will be built in Cumbria and Lancashire over the next five years.

The tender process for the project is due to start in early August this year.