Petition opposing village fire station criticised

Councillors have hit back at a petition opposing proposals for a new fire station in a Lincolnshire village.

Plans for the on-call facility on land off the A52 at Leverton, near Boston, were unanimously approved by Lincolnshire County Council's planning committee on Monday.

Opponents raised concerns about road safety and noise.

Councillor Tom Ashton told the meeting: "I'm deeply saddened by this petition – it's a sign of the country we've become that people are against a fire station."

"I hope those 121 people [who signed it] never had to rely on it to come to their aid," he said.

The building will replace the current on-call station on Main Street, which was "no longer fit for purpose", according to officials.

Councillor Paula Ashleigh-Morris said: "The people of Leverton should be glad of this facility if their house catches fire – if firefighters have to come from Boston, it will be ashes.

"It's amazing to have this in a rural area."

However, opponents claimed moving the fire station to the new location would lead to highway safety problems, along with noise nuisance.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, resident Judith Welbourn said villagers were "not opposed to a new fire station, just on this site".

She claimed there were concerns about the safety of children using a footpath while work was going on.

Bill Dziadkiewicz, the station manager, told the committee that the current fire station was "no longer fit for purpose, small, inefficient and outdated".

"There isn't room for training, welfare or decontamination, meaning staff regularly had to travel to bigger stations in Boston or Skegness."

Councillor Nigel Pepper added: "I think the public are imagining the new station will be bigger and busier than it will be.

"Personally, I can't think of a better location."

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