Fire station in Ash-cum-Ridley - now recruiting
Work has begun on the new station at
Ash-cum-Ridley. Kent Fire and Rescue Service are recruiting people
who live within five minutes of the new station and to work part
time as on-call firefighters.
Better emergency cover for this area
Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) spent three years looking in
enormous detail at the emergency response needs of the county. We
found that in some areas of the county, there were more fire
stations than we need, usually due to historic reasons rather than
modern day demand. Other areas needed increased emergency cover and
the New Ash Green area is one of these. All of our data shows that
the New Ash Green area is the right location for a new station, and
we already own a very suitable site.
Information about the new station
We will be building an on-call station with a single fire
engine. On-call fire stations operate by calling firefighters in
when needed to pick up the engine and attend an incident. When this
happens we will do our utmost to ensure there is as little
disturbance as possible e.g. engines would generally not use their
sirens as they leave the station.
There are no plans to make any changes to Butlers Place roads as
all traffic will enter and exit the site from Chapel Wood Road.
Next steps
KFRS had planning permission granted for the new
station by Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) in November 2012.
The council will then consult the relevant parish council, which is
Ash-cum-Ridley and local residents who can give their views to the
overall decision makers.
Contractors aim to begin work in January 2013 and hand
over the new station in September 2013.
We want to work with the local community to ensure residents
feel proud to have this valuable community asset in your local
area.
Construction phase
We will be working with the contractor to ensure that there is
as little impact on neighbours as possible during construction,
both on the site and on nearby roads. We will put up
hoardings/fencing around the site to reduce construction noise and
minimise the impact on nearby neighbours. Our plan is to work with
the local school to decorate these hoardings and a local schools
completion has recently been run to design illustrations to be used
on the hoardings/ fencing.
Job opportunities
There will be job opportunities for on-call firefighters, and we
are currently going through the recruitment process with a number
of local people.