Old fire site is perfect (From Halesowen News)

Old fire site is perfect

6:00pm Saturday 28th July 2012 in Letters

The more I read about the replacement fire station for Halesowen and Cradley Heath, the more dismayed I become.
The proposed new station at the corner of Barrs Road will cost £3 million, with £1.5 million coming from the sale of the existing two. This is lunacy. For instance, the former fire station in Hagley Road, Halesowen, a wonderful site with better road links than the replacement site, fits the bill ideally. Great access via the A456 and the        road to Cradley – it is               perfect.
An engine from Barrs Road in rush-hour traffic is not going to make a journey to a fire near the Quinton/Woodgate boundary in the target time of five minutes. Lives will be lost.
This reduction in a strategic service, combined with similar reductions in policing and ambulance provision, is not the sensible or responsible way forward.
Name and address supplied