WITH work on the new £6million fire station well underway, Basingstoke’s MP visited the site to see ho w construction is coming along.

Maria Miller visited the site in West Ham Close to see how the new build was going and to met with fire crews to discuss the challenges they face in keeping the community safe.

The old facility which was built in the 1960s, was demolished at the start of the year to allow a more modernised facility to be developed at the same site.

As previously reported by The Gazette the new station will have enhanced training facilities, which will enable courses to be run from the station.

In addition, unused space at the front of the West Ham site will be used to house 10 specialist vehicles.

The modernised building is expected to be complete and operational by February, 2017.

During Mrs Miller’s visit, chief officer of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Dave Curry and Brian Rudman, group commander for North Hampshire, briefed her on the new fire station, and gave her a short tour of the construction site to paint a picture of how the new facility would run.

“It is great to see this stateof-the-art facility taking shape in Basingstoke,” said the MP.

“It is set to be the largest fire station in Hampshire in terms of vehicle numbers, and with the very high levels of housebuilding we will see locally over the coming years, this is an important investment in essential infrastructure.”

Mrs Miller also had high praise for the work that the town’s fire crews carry out to keep residents safe.

She added: “We should all be grateful to the firefighters who serve our community and help to mak e our lives safer.

“Whilst new homes are built to good fire safety standards I was concerned to hear that some parke d cars on new residential estates can make it difficult for fire engines to reach an incident quickly.

“This is something I shall be raising directly with the borough council.”