Fire commissioner defends review of Staffordshire Fire HQ near Stone

Staffordshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has defended a review which could lead to the sale of the county’s fire service headquarters near Stone, saying the proceeds could potentially fund a new training facility elsewhere in Staffordshire.

Ben Adams has faced criticism for considering the disposal of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Pirehill headquarters as part of a wider review of savings and investment.

Earlier this month, councillors in Staffordshire Moorlands passed a motion calling for any proposal to sell Pirehill to be dropped. They argued that losing its training facilities could make the fire service less effective.

Mr Adams told a meeting of Staffordshire’s police, fire and crime panel that criticism of the review had failed to take account of its purpose and the range of options being considered.

He said the fire service faced a difficult financial position because of what he described as inadequate government funding.

Panel members heard that selling Pirehill could generate money to invest in a new training site elsewhere in Staffordshire. Mr Adams said moving firefighter training outside the county would be an “absolute last resort”.

Mr Adams said

“I’ve received some criticism for exploring a number of options, including what might we do to make best use of the fire headquarters at Pirehill, which might have meant that I could invest in improved training facilities for Staffordshire Fire and Rescue. But it’s been lost, somehow, in the conversation.

“The choice is, potentially, between buildings and fire stations or firefighters. That’s not a difficult choice for me to make, so I don’t understand where criticism is coming from.

“I’m looking at dozens of options, some practical, some sensible, some a bit uncomfortable, to be frank. But you can’t magic a million quid out of nowhere.”

Land neighbouring Pirehill is set to be earmarked for development in Stafford’s new local plan, potentially increasing the value of the site.

Staffordshire Moorlands councillor Charlotte Atkins said the district council’s motion had been prompted by concerns that selling Pirehill could undermine firefighters’ ability to keep people safe.

She said

“There was real concern that training might be outsourced. One of the points made by one retired firefighter is that the strength of the firefighting team is that everyone are all trained to the same standard. So when they go out to an incident they know all of them are fully capable of doing everything that needs to be done.

“There’s a concern that we could dilute the effectiveness of the firefighting capacity if were to get ride of Pirehill.”

Mr Adams said he thought it unlikely that firm proposals for Pirehill would be drawn up before his term ends in 2028, when Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners are due to be abolished.

However, he said the body taking over responsibility would face the same choices and that preparing a report now could avoid a “knee-jerking” decision later.

An initial report is expected by the end of 2026, although the meeting heard that it may not be made public.

Mr Adams added

“One of the options I was considering, was with the right sort of receipt, could we build a proper state-of-the-art training facility somewhere within our confines, that was protected or the next 30 or 40 years.”

He said he had been “a bit disappointed” that the review had been exploited for what he described as “political benefit”, and said maintaining the effectiveness of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service would remain his priority.

Tamworth councillor Wayne Luca told the panel that maintaining firefighter numbers should take priority over buildings.

He said

“For me personally lives will always come before buildings. A building does not save a life, a firefighter does.”

Panel chair Richard Cox said there were “concerns across Staffordshire” that needed to be addressed.