IPSWICH'S central fire station is to be brought up to date for the 21st century at a cost of many thousands of pounds.Suffolk fire service is to upgrade the Princes Street fire station – the busiest in the county – ensuring it will remain at the cutting edge of public protection for many more years.

By Paul Geater

IPSWICH'S central fire station is to be brought up to date for the 21st century at a cost of many thousands of pounds.

Suffolk fire service is to upgrade the Princes Street fire station – the busiest in the county – ensuring it will remain at the cutting edge of public protection for many more years.

Fire bosses have decided to go ahead with the renewal despite the existence of a borough council planning brief that shows the area it is built on being redeveloped by the year 2021.

"It is the biggest single fire station in Suffolk and we think it is in the right place for central Ipswich and all areas of the town," said a spokesman for Suffolk Fire Service.

"Therefore the decision has been taken to go ahead with the upgrade. You can never say anything is for ever, but there are no plans within the fire service to move," he said.

The exact nature of the upgrade had not been decided but it would "considerably more than a new lick of paint," he said.

The Princes Street fire station was opened in the late 1980s when the road network around it was remodelled.

Its opening coincided with the opening of the new Royal Mail sorting office on the opposite side of Princes Street.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail did not think they would be affected at all.

"There are no plans to relocate our sorting office and we are not aware of any document suggesting there could be an alternative use for the land," he said.

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Is the Action Plan realistic – see page 22.