A new joint headquarters for Nottinghamshire’s police and fire service in Notts could be on the cards in Arnold, it has been revealed.
The two emergency services currently operate from two separate headquarters, only a few miles apart just north of Arnold.
Now, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire, Paddy Tipping, has said work is ongoing to look at the possibility of a merger.
Several options are currently on the table.
One is for the two services to keep operating from their own bases. Another is for the fire to move into police headquarters, at Sherwood Lodge.
A third is for the police to move in with the fire service, while a fourth option is for the two to move in together at a new site altogether.
Mr Tipping told a meeting of the Police and Crime Panel on Monday, April 23: “I have a statutory duty to work closely with the fire service, and they have a fire building that’s three or four miles away from Sherwood Lodge.
“That work is now underway, and when we’ve got the conclusion of that work we can make a decision about how best to go forward.
“I shouldn’t pre-empt the work of the consultants (who are currently investigating), but it seems pretty obvious to me that the consultants will decide to focus on one side or the other one – and as the massive investment is on the Sherwood Lodge site, I think they will, in the course of time, come over to our site.”
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “We’re currently working with our colleagues at Nottinghamshire Police, and our other partner agencies, to look at a range of options in regards to the further sharing of our estates – to help improve interoperability and make us even more efficient and effective.
“An options appraisal is currently underway and, whilst there is still plenty of work to be done, we are very much looking forward to seeing things progress in the coming months and indeed years.”
Co-operation between blue-light services is on the increase, but is not always a success.
A multi-million pound building, intended to be the joint control centre of all fire services in the East Midlands, has been sitting empty in Castle Donington since 2010.
It is one of nine centres nationally which were built for a similar purpose.
