Official opening of Leiston Fire and Police Station

Leiston’s new shared Fire and Police Station is now fully operational. This is the tenth shared community fire and police facility in Suffolk with stations already operating in Newmarket, Saxmundham, Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Ixworth, Elmswell, Debenham, Framlingham and Clare. There are plans for further joint stations in Beccles and Stowmarket along with some further sharing opportunities of functions in Ipswich.

Tim Passmore, Police and Crime Commissioner and Suffolk County Councillor, Richard Rout, formally opened the shared base in King George’s Ave, Leiston on Wednesday 5th December.

The new blue-light base was designed by Concertus and built by SEH French Ltd. The works involved updating the existing station, providing modern welfare facilities for Police and Fire personnel, new office accommodation, improved IT provision and enhancements to reduce the impact on the environment. As part of the central government’s drive for closer emergency services collaboration, financial support for the project was secured from the Home Office.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner said: “The opening of this tenth joint Fire and Police Station in Suffolk is very good news for the county. There are considerable financial benefits as well as significant operational improvements that this collaboration between our two organisations delivers for people and businesses across the county. I am already looking forward to the next wave of shared facilities being developed, as well as joint initiatives in areas such as community safety and vehicle servicing. Suffolk continues to lead the way nationally in blue light collaboration.”

Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Protection Councillor Richard Rout said: “We have already seen great benefits in developing ‘blue light’ stations with our partners in the police and the ambulance services in Suffolk. In addition to the 10 stations shared with the Constabulary, we also share a further 5 with the ambulance service. Our partnership saves on the cost of running multiple buildings and enables emergency services to work closely together in supporting the community they serve. The sharing of facilities has also opened up further opportunities to collaborate in areas of service delivery, improving efficiencies and engagement with members of the public.”

This new shared station will help both organisations become even more cost effective and will enable police and fire to work much more closely together in the town. Money from the sale of the former police station in Leiston will be pumped back into the Constabulary budget.