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Retained fire station backed by council | thisiscornwall.co.uk | Nov 2010

Spotted on Thursday 18 November 2010 in The Cornishman/West Briton

Retained fire station backed by council

A RETAINED fire station at Hayle has received the backing of the town's civic bodies.

Both Hayle Town Council and the Residents' Association have welcomed the proposal to sell both Camborne and Redruth fire stations – a move which would free up enough finance to open a small station in the town.

Cornwall's chief fire officer Des Tidbury told Cornwall Council's communities overview and scrutiny committee recently the new structure could be in place by 2014.

Camborne and Redruth would be replaced by a single station possibly in Tolvaddon.

Hayle mayor John Bennett says the town council was excited and pleased that a retained station for Hayle was being considered.

"We are wholeheartedly behind it," he said. "When we look at the number of homes ING is proposing to build, some 3,000-4,000 over the next couple of decades it makes great sense to have a fire station where there is a good access to the A30."

It has been suggested that the new station could be based in St Erth.

However the chairman of Hayle Residents Association, Harry Blakeley, believes Tolroy junction on B3302 would offer the best possible solution in order to also provide cover for the Lizard, St Ives and Helston.

"A retained station would be fantastic for Hayle but in my view it should be a full time station at the Tolroy junction. That would be in the long term the better solution.

"If ING goes ahead with its plan we will be the biggest town in England which has not got an effective fire station. But a 24-hour manned station could service Redruth, Camborne, St Ives and cover the whole of West Cornwall from there and also have the ability to provide a facility for the police and ambulance."

According to Mr Tidbury a small station at Hayle should have facilities that could be used by the community. He said talks were continuing with the police and ambulance services about the possible sharing of facilities.