New fire station scheme backed

Plans to build a new fire station and training academy on vacant land in Liverpool have been given the green light.Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s plans will see the relocation of Croxteth and Aintree fire stations to the new site.Now, Liverpool City Council’s planning committee has backed the scheme for the former Commercial Hydraulics Site, on 100 Long Lane.Also included in the application is parking for 190 cars, 46 cycle spaces, 158 trees and a staff wellbeing garden, complete with pond.Offices, a training tower, community meeting room and animal rescue zone – with dogs brought on site for training – are in the mix too.The site will provide a two-storey, four-bay fire station with garaging and a two-storey training and development academy.This will include single-storey classroom blocks and associated structures and specialist training facilities, all for fire and search and rescue training purposes.The scheme comprises a number of elements, but its primary function is to be a centre of excellence for the training of firefighters.In the centre of the site will be a Training and Development Academy (TDA) together with an array of external training zones to mimic real life scenarios including railway, marine, high rise and an operational fire station.