The Police in Ripon moved to the Fire Station in February 2018, with the previous police station being sold.
Philip Allott, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said that he doesn’t believe the Ripon Fire Station site is fit for purpose, and now has plans to demolish it, in-part, and build a modular police and fire station.
Station Bdge, Ripon, HG4 1JA, United Kingdom
North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott said:
We are spending £1,162,000 to build a new combined, modular police and fire station in Ripon.
It is the first of its kind in North Yorkshire and it is envisaged that it will be finished within the next 14-months, although as commissioner I would like that to be within 12-months.
A planning application will shortly be made to Harrogate Borough Council to demolish the old smoke tower, a portakabin building, garages and some other infrastructure outside.
During the build, the fire service and police will remain on site, and the new modular construction will be built around the existing facilities. The site in Ripon has quite a big footprint that can accommodate the work.
Once Ripon is complete, it will be used as a template for other combined police and fire stations throughout the county, and I am hoping that we can continue that construction work throughout my tenure.
There will be no change to custodial suites, they will remain as Harrogate, York and Scarborough – they cost £16M, so they can’t be in every police station.
In terms of the setup in Ripon, the police have currently one major room, an annex off it, and an interview room. In my opinion, that’s not fit for purpose.
The new facility will have a proper office for the inspector, a proper interview room, and leisure services will be pooled between the services.
North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott said:
The build will be using modular units, that are part-constructed, allowing a quicker build.
The services work in a very collegiate way, so when we were appointing a new assistant chief constable, the chief fire officer was on the interview panel, and when we appointed a new chief fire officer, the deputy chief constable was on the interview panel.
Under my chairmanship, the chief fire officer, the chief constable and the head of enable meet each week to discuss things relevant. I also meet individually with them.
There are two engines at Ripon, with on-call cover on an evening, but it is a station that has quite a reach. In terms of the police it will be an inspector-base and associated sergeants, constables and PCSO’s.
We don’t have plans for a counter-service. In 2016 there was a study of footfall of the counter servcies in the county, with some counters only having one visitor.
Traditionally a police officer would come out to you at some time over a morning or afternoon, we are looking at running a pilot for the use of teams.
There is still a minority of people that attend a police station, some are required to do, such as for bail conditions.
The building will be more economical to run, but it is about making it fit for purpose. Some of the current buildings are just not fit for purpose, storing some equipment in buildings that are not water tight.
The existing building is early 1950’s, and although it has been modified to accommodate the police, it is not fit for purpose, officers are tripping over each other. The new building will properly designed and giver proper use of space.
This building was open in the early seventies.