As part of a continued programme of modernising fire stations, Lincolnshire County Council is looking at improving the facilities in Leverton.
Local residents will soon be able to see the plans and talk to the team behind them.
The current Leverton fire station is an older building on a small site which falls behind the standard of facilities at many other fire stations.
In particular the station itself lacks sufficient training and welfare facilities, and the site causes manoeuvrability difficulties for fire appliances with a lack of parking for additional response vehicles.
Cllr Lindsey Cawrey, executive councillor for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, said: “The council is committed to improving facilities at Leverton and are now looking at options to do this. We are looking at what could be done on the current site but the station doesn’t have enough space for training and decontaminating fire kit and the welfare facilities aren’t up to the standards of our other stations. There are also access issues with the crew having to reverse the fire appliance off the busy A52 into the appliance bay, which causes disruption and the risk of a collision.
“Our firefighters have to travel to other stations at Boston or Skegness to carry out training and this can reduce their availability and limit their training time. We know that making improvements would not only make things better for the crew, but also the local community.”
The current fire station in Leverton is on Main Road in the village. A planning application has now been submitted and will shortly be available to view at lincolnshire.planning-register.co.uk. A public information event will also be held at the fire station on Wednesday 25 September, from 3pm to 6.30pm.
Cllr Richard Butroid, executive councillor for property services, said:
“Our preferred option is to construct a new station elsewhere in the village as there are limitations to what we can do on the current site. Although it’s possible to modernise some of the facilities at the station, the site is small and this wouldn’t get over the problems of a lack of training facilities and the manoeuvrability difficulties that our fire crew experience.
“We’re at the initial stages of this work, and are putting an initial planning application forward for a new station so we can see what is achievable and how much it would cost. If we do go ahead we’ll need to ensure best value for money, as well as enhancing the emergency response to the public.”