Shropshire fire control set for £400,000 move to Telford as cost of station redevelopment tops £14 million

It is set to include finalising £400,000 plans to move the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service’s fire control operation from the service headquarters in Shrewsbury over to Telford.

The Telford Central Fire Station at Ercall House in Stafford Park 1 had an anticipated budget of £10 million, plus a £2 million buffer, when it was approved in 2021.

But the project, finished two years later than anticipated, was allocated £4 million more in 2023. The redevelopment was completed during the financial year 2024/25, and the buildings are now in use bar the extras that councillors are being asked to approve.

Papers published in advance of the annual meeting of Shropshire & Wrekin Fire Authority next week report that total spending on the project up to March 31 had reached £13.994 million.

“During the redevelopment, some challenges were encountered which have had financial and time impacts on the project,” James Walton, the fire authority treasurer, wrote in a report ahead of the meeting on Wednesday (June 25).

“At its meeting in October 2023, the fire authority received a report detailing these challenges and approved an increase of £4m to the overall budget.”

The report said the scheme was approved in February 2021 and was expected to be completed in August 2022.

Councillors will be asked to approve spending that “did not form part of the original funding for the scheme”.

This includes equipping the base for an anticipated move of fire control from the fire service headquarters in Shrewsbury to new facilities in Telford.

“Whilst the redevelopment at Telford was designed with the long-term view of incorporating fire control, no specific allocation was made for equipping the control room or the adjacent significant incident room until the command and control system replacement project was more advanced,” Mr Walton wrote.

“With the progression of that project, requirements necessary to support a fully operational control environment are now becoming clearer.

“Work is currently underway to establish infrastructure, equipment and technology resources required, and the associated budget, to facilitate this move.

“Options which include specialist furniture, desk hardware and video wall facilities will be presented to the service’s senior management team and a decision made on how to proceed. The budget required is likely be around £400,000.”

The report states that it was recommended that the fire authority recognise potential additional costs and maintain the proposed budget (in 2021) at £12m for financial planning purposes.

Additional furniture comes with a price tag of £48,000 and includes signage, appliances for the appliance bay and drying room, groundwork and furniture.

The report concludes: “The fire authority is recommended to approve the additional expenditure, to complete the refurbishment at Telford Central, from the remaining budget allocation.

“A full debrief of the Telford Central project will be undertaken in September, following which a closedown report will be brought to the fire authority.”