A new state-of-the-art fire station in Bradford is set to become a reality within a year.

Fire authority bosses have been given the green light to buy and demolish a pub on the site to make way for the multi-million pound development off Leeds Road.

Bradford Council's spokesman on West Yorkshire Fire Authority, Councillor Tony Niland (Lab, Bowling) said the new base would improve crews' response times and give the city a "station to be proud of".

The authority is now planning to buy the Albion pub in Maud Street which has been put up for sale by its owners Enterprise Inns and apply for a road closure order for Arlington Street before the new fire station can be built.

The facility is expected to cost around £2 million and is scheduled to open by March 2005.

It will contain the Bradford Fire Safety department and a new community room to promote fire safety within the city.

Coun Niland said: "Three years ago we looked at our fire cover across the whole of West Yorkshire and it revealed some startling things. Our fire stations were in the wrong places. Our station in Nelson Street is not where the fires and deaths in the city were occurring. We needed a station somewhere near the Leeds Road area."

A fire authority spokesman said the station would be a similar design to the Stanningley complex which was built last year when Pudsey and Bramley Fire Stations merged.

The new Bradford station was due to be opened last year but fire chiefs delayed the development because they wanted more land to build on.

The authority has already bought and demolished a shop owned by Basi Plumbers Merchants on the site.

It has been given outline planning permission to use the land as a fire station and is expected to submit a detailed application to Bradford Council later this year.

The new station will house two fire engines, an aerial appliance vehicle and provide a base for more than 50 staff. Fire engines will pull out on to Leeds Road.