SUFFOLK fire bosses are still looking at proposals to build a new fire station at Yarmouth Road - even though they fear they may have to evacuate it if there is a risk of flooding.

SUFFOLK fire bosses are still looking at proposals to build a new fire station at Yarmouth Road - even though they fear they may have to evacuate it if there is a risk of flooding.

And today they have published the first drawings of possible new fire stations for there and Colchester Road in Ipswich - and for a new county-wide training centre in Great Blakenham.

Suffolk County Council is looking at the possibility of building a new fire station at the junction of Yarmouth Road and London Road on land currently occupied by a conservatory company.

However this land is on an island site sandwiched between the Rivers Orwell and Gipping and there are fears it could be vulnerable to flooding.

The county council has produced a planning brief which says that fire appliances based at the station would be moved out if there was any threat.

And it also said the lower levels of the fire station should be made of materials which would not be damaged by flooding.

The application for a new fire station at Colchester Road would replace the existing buildings there.

The old headquarters building has been redundant since senior fire officials moved into the county council's base at Endeavour House last year and the control room is expected to be replaced by a regional control room within a few years.

Once that has moved, the site will be able to be redeveloped as a large fire station serving all of north and east Ipswich.

The fire service also wants to set up a new training centre at Great Blakenham which will replace its existing training headquarters at Lowestoft.

Details of these proposed new buildings have today been published for the first time.

The project to renew many of the county's fire stations is expected to take several years and will be undertaken by private companies as part of a Private Finance Initiative scheme.

Fire chiefs are anxious to say that no final decision on building a new fire station at Yarmouth Road - which would replace the Princes Street fire station - has yet been taken.