A NEW temporary fire station will be created in Keighley Town Centre while the existing facility is demolished and a more modern station built in its place.

Plans for a state of the art new station in the town were first announced in 2019, and £2.2m funding for the project was included in West Yorkshire Fire Authority’s 2020/21 budget.

Work was due to start on the station earlier this year.

But late last year it was revealed that the Covid pandemic had stalled the project, and that work was now expected to start before April 2022.

This week the Authority submitted a planning application to Bradford Council to create a temporary station on the Bradford Road site.

It would be based on the North of the site, and be made up of an existing building and pre-fabricated extensions to this building.

A separate planning application to demolish the existing station and replace it with a new, three storey station is expected to follow in the coming weeks.

New Fire Service headquarters to cost over £18 million

The application says: “It is essential that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are able to continue to provide an uninterrupted delivery of service during the redevelopment of Keighley Fire Station.

“Due to the significant extent of the redevelopment, it is not feasible to continue operations from the existing building on the site and thus a temporary Fire Station is required.”

Keighley’s ageing fire station was built in 1964, and news that the building would be replaced was welcomed by Dave Williams, then Yorkshire and Humber Regional Secretary for the Fire Brigade’s Union, who described the building as “run down” and in need of an upgrade.

It was part of a package of work that would also see the rebuild of fire stations in Halifax and Huddersfield.

There will also be a major rebuild project at the service’s headquarters in Birkenshaw, with Cleckheaton Station being transferred to the site and that stations demolished.

The application for the temporary building says: “This development will provide a suitable space for the fire and rescue team with minimal disruption.

“The temporary station will operate in the same way as the existing station with the same staffing levels and capacity for service vehicles.”

It acknowledges the prefabricated buildings will not fit in with the surrounding area, but points out that they will only be a temporary feature.

The application says: “Whilst the design may not seem to respect the context of the surroundings, it is considered to be an exception due to the temporary nature.

“A condition requiring the removal of the buildings once the replacement fire station has been completed can be applied to control this.”

The application adds: “It is expected that all on-site, community / public events which are usually associated with community type Fire Stations will be suspended whilst the temporary Fire Station is active and until such time the new permanent Fire Station is completed and brought into use.”

The application says the work will likely start “shortly after planning permission is granted” for the temporary station and the rebuild.

A decision on the temporary station is expected in early December.

West Yorkshire Fire Authority told the Telegraph & Argus that the work is expected to begin in Spring.