A NEW temporary fire station will be created in Keighley whilst the existing building is demolished and a more-modern facility constructed 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 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 comprise an existing building and pre-fabricated extensions.

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

The application says: “It is essential that West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is 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 Brigades Union, who described the existing building as “run down”.

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

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 – 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 onsite, public events which are usually associated with community-type fire stations will be suspended whilst the temporary facility is active and until such time as the new permanent fire station is completed and brought into use.”