Money will be spent on new fire stations and the improvement of existing facilities

More than £130m is set to be spent on building new fire stations and better fire and rescue facilities across the country, it was announced today.

Since July, fire and rescue services have been bidding for a share of PFI funding to modernise stations, with services in Cleveland, County Durham and Darlington, Northumberland, Surrey and Staffordshire selected for development.

Fire minister Sadiq Khan said: “For this latest round of funding we set out a tough criteria and the standard of submissions was very high. But three proposals were particularly impressive and I'm delighted to announce that we have set aside £125m for projects in Cleveland, County Durham and Darlington, Northumberland, Surrey and Staffordshire.”

The joint Cleveland, County Durham and Darlington and Northumberland proposal will receive £60m for developments, which include a headquarters facility, a youth academy and a technical services centre. The Staffordshire service is set to receive £30m to provide 20 rural fire stations and training facilities, while the Surrey fire and rescue service will be given £35m to replace 14 out of date stations.

A further £5.5m will be allocated to the London Fire Brigade to assist with their PFI project of replacing up to ten existing fire stations across the capital.

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