Enjoy the Trip

Tomorrow the firefighters who are currently based at Gipton and    Stanks are going on a "works outing" to Normanton Fire Station to have  a look around and see what the proposed new station to be built at Killingbeck   may be like. 

Normanton Fire Station 

Station Commander at Gipton - Nigel Kirk told the Inner East Area Committee  way back in  September 2012 that the plans had already been submitted to Leeds City Council for the new station. 

On checking we discovered this was untrue. In fact to the best of our knowledge  these plans are not yet in the public domain. All we know is that it is to be a three appliance bay station (with two appliances). 

Normanton Plans   It is interesting to note the ground floor community room has a separate  entrance lobby, kitchen and toilet  (with full disabled access we assume). Is this so that the local community can use the facilities? And indeed the planning application actually refers to the building as a "community fire station"  However the papers of the Finance  Resources Committee of WYFRA held in  13th July 2012 it was specifically stated that non of the fire stations to be closed and sold as part of last years integrated risk management plan were NOT current classed as community assets as they were not used for social welfare or social interest purposes.  The papers are available to download HERE We think this may be untrue!   Isnt the  Gipton Young Fire fighters Scheme  a Social Welfare Project!  Extract from Normanton Fire Station Planning Application  FCCL would like to thank the station cat from Gipton informing us of the trip tomorrow, and as she is a little shy of posting herself we would like to point out she has not been invited along nor is there any signs on the plans for Normanton of a cat flap !  We are hoping however that our increasing network of station cats may be able to give us a hint of how the trip went. Lets just hope the showers aren't communal, like the station opened  in the past few years at Bradford!  Gipton Station Cat And if you would like to see something of the lighter side of being a fire fighter we have updated our  page  HERE with something that made quite a few of us chuckle.