Site earmarked for fire station

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is moving ahead with plans to merge Moortown and Cooksridge stations by closing them and building a brand new station between the two. It is despite claims from the union that cutting resources and increasing the time it would take to respond to incidents will lead to more deaths. A planning application has been submitted to Leeds City Council for the new station on a designated open space site, already owned by the authority, at the junction of Ring Road Moortown and Black Moor Road. The two storey building will house a kit room, gym and offices on the ground floor and a kitchen, dining room, six bedrooms and three bathrooms on the first floor. There will also be space to house two fire engines, a 13.8 metre high training tower, training yard, car parking and landscaping. Local residents have objected on the grounds of noise, light pollution, loss of open space and that the building will be an eye sore. Other suggested sites at Weetwood Police Station, Boddington Sports Pavilion, Meanwood, Weetwood and Spen Lane and Wira Business Park were ruled out because they were either already subject to development, in green belt or too far away. A ‘Save Moortown Fire Station’ campaign on Facebook, started by firefighter Paul Drinkwater, has won support from nearly 1000 people.