Wind turbine plan for new fire station

From the archive, first published Friday 13th Apr 2007.

A NEW fire station will boast a wind turbine and solar panels to reduce its impact on the environment.

Members of a project board at the Essex Fire Authority have spent several months working on the designs for the new station, in Stadium Way, Thundersley, near Rayleigh Weir.

The station will have four bays with accommodation and training facilities for firefighters, facilities for youth development initiatives such as the Firebreak scheme, and space to house the Basildon and Castle Point Community Command headquarters.

Members of the board agreed measures such as a wind turbine, solar panels and a heat exchanger - which uses the earth as a heat source and the water supply for cooling - would be part of the design to reduce its carbon footprint.

The new facility will replace the station currently in London Road, Hadleigh, and is being developed on the site thanks to a commercial agreement with Essex Ford, who have recently built a new showroom at the Weir.

Fire chiefs are now preparing to submit a detailed planning application to Castle Point Council, having received outline planning permission last year.

If it is approved, it is hoped work could start by November.

However, Scott Morrow, press officer for Essex County Fire and Rescue, said: "Timescales are difficult to predict, prior to planning application approval. However, once approval has been given, the project will be progressed to tender."

It has still not been decided what will become of the existing station, which lies in a prime town centre location in the centre of Hadleigh.

Last year, pub chain JD Wetherspoon said it would be looking at the site, but there has been no further announcement since then.