Talks under way on merging Lincolnshire’s emergency services locations

Early talks are being held to merge Lincolnshire’s emergency services and share resources.

Fire, police and ambulance services in the county say they are looking at the possibility of sharing buildings and departments in future.
It is thought the move could help save money after Lincolnshire Police’s chief constable warned they would run out of money by 2018.

Chief fire officer Dave Ramscar said merging the services “makes sense”.
The plans could see all three services run from a single hub in South Park, Lincoln, and there could be a shared fire and police headquarters at Nettleham.

Mr Ramscar said the possibility of police opening offices at the county’s 38 fire stations was also being looked at.
“We are looking at where it makes sense to merge and looking at the feasibility of sharing some of our facilities,” he said.
“We are looking at combining police, fire and ambulance stations from an operational perspective and a financial perspective as well.
“It seems to make sense that where we can we should combine these facilities.”

Long Sutton fire station is one of several across the county which has already been involved in a cross-service project with the ambulance service in which fire crews respond to medical emergencies in ambulances.

Ben Selby, chairman of the Lincolnshire branch of the Fire Brigades Union, said sharing buildings was a good idea but there were some concerns.
He said: “When you are talking about sharing resources such as our control room or vehicles, that does worry us because we have different mobilisation policies and different skill sets are required.”

A spokesman for East Midlands Ambulance Service said emergency services in Lincolnshire already worked closely together and confirmed it was “considering opportunities for co-location”.

Lincolnshire Police has not been available for comment but police and crime commissioner Alan Hardwick previously told his panel they were in “a fast moving and dynamic discussion”.

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