Planning permission has been granted retrospectively for the temporary fire station in Twerton that will serve the Bath area for the next 18 months.
The new temporary fire station off the Lower Bristol Road
To maintain critical emergency services during the redevelopment of the 1930s fire station site at Bathwick Street, fire crews are relocating to the old Unigate Dairies site at Roseberry Place, off Lower Bristol Road.
Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AF&RS) apologised in December for starting work on the temporary station without waiting for Bath & North East Somerset Council to give approval.
They explained they needed to have it ready in time for the redevelopment of the dated fire station into a modern and fully sustainable facility, scheduled to start this month.
AF&RS applied to the council last August to put up the temporary station. The council’s original target date to determine the application was mid-October, but the plans were only signed off by the planners on 11th February.
There has been much controversy over the plans to demolish the Art Deco fire station in Bathwick Street.
Design work began on it in 1937, led by architect Alfred J Taylor, who died in 1938 after which his architect daughter Molly Taylor took over the project and saw it through to completion.
It is regarded as a very rare pre-war project by a female architect, and the only fire station known to have been designed by a female architect.
The station played a crucial role in protecting the city during the Baedeker Blitz air raids of 1942.
Historic England wanted the station Grade II listed, but the government said it was “not sufficiently special” and denied it heritage status.
The Twentieth Century Society (C20) has since been trying to save it from demolition even though B&NES Council has granted permission for it to be knocked down as part of the redevelopment.
A review of the minister’s decision not to list it was launched last autumn, but the Department for Culture, Media & Sport said that as the designation review process is non-statutory, it was under no obligation to respond within a specific timeframe.
