New Fire Station Granted Consent at Hicks Gate, Avon Ring Road
CSJ Planning Consultants, acting for Avon Fire Authority, have secured planning permission for a new operational fire station and training facility, located off Hicks Gate roundabout on the Avon Ring Road between Brislington and Keynsham. CSJ Planning Consultants promoted the development within the green belt on the basis of ‘very special circumstances’. The case was Avon Fire Authority’s ‘Investing in the Future Programme’ and to increase the operational requirement for response times to eight minutes. The new fire station is strategically located and will replace the Keynsham and Brislington fire stations, providing one single facility which will improve response times significantly within B&NES, whilst maintaining the existing cover in Bristol and South Gloucestershire. This application justified ‘very special circumstances’ regarding the location of the site and the essential public service safety requirements, outweighing the harm to the green belt. The design proposals, however, also took account of the green belt location in terms of the design of the station and ancillary structures, so that they would be in keeping with the character of the area by reflecting rural barn structures, as well as being screened by extending boundary planting treatments. CSJ Planning Consultants led the Project Team through pre-application discussions with B&NES, public consultation and ultimately secured Officer support which led to a referral to the Secretary of State regarding the green belt location. The Government office accepted that the application had necessarily covered the ‘very special circumstance’ test in relation to the five purposes of the Green Belt and its openness, and therefore allowed a local decision to be taken. The planning permission granted now also frees up the Keynsham fire station site, which is being targeted to potentially house the Avon Fire Authority’s main headquarter offices in the near future. A new planning application has now also been submitted to provide a new Bristol City Centre fire station at Temple Back. Willmott Dixon will be constructing the new fire station as part of a framework agreement, along with improvements to Kingswood fire station. The next 3 to 5 years will see a radical modernisation and improvement of Avon Fire Authority’s facilities. Andrew Beard, Director, said “One of the pleasing aspects of Planning Consultancy work is to be able to work for the public sector, and CSJ Planning Consultants now has a reputation for working for Avon & Somerset Police, Avon Fire Authority and, the new Southmead Hospital to provide significantly modernised and updated facilities for the greater Bristol area over the coming decades.”
