Seven new emergency services stations will be built and five existing stations will be significantly upgraded under a new plan to help firefighters, paramedics and the State Emergency Service cope with population growth over the next 20 years.
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The ACT Government's Station Upgrade and Relocation Strategy, launched yesterday, sets out how the territory's emergency services will cope with the long-term expansion of Canberra.
The strategy provides major investments for emergency services in the ACT, aiming to see them through the next 20 years of Canberra's growth, and will lead to many ageing facilities owned by the ACT Ambulance Service, Fire Brigade, and Rural Fire Service either being upgraded or replaced.
The first phase of the strategy will see a new fire station built in Calwell, and two joint ambulance and fire stations built in Charnwood and Aranda from 2012-2014.
The existing fire station in Greenway will be turned into an ambulance station, with paramedics transferring across from the existing station in Kambah.
The fire station in Charnwood has been deemed obsolete, and staff will also move out of the fire and ambulance station on Lathlain Street in Belconnen, which is now about 40-years-old.
From 2013-2017, new stations will also be built in Campbell, the City, Tuggeranong, and the new residential area of Molonglo.
Stations at Fyshwick, Majura, Greenway, Kambah, and Phillip will also receive significant upgrades.
The plan will help emergency services cope with a population increase of 120,000 by 2032, and continual urban densification and the spread of suburbs further away from the city centre.
Police and Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell said the station relocation strategy was the result of years of planning and feasibility studies. The exact cost of implementing the strategy was still unknown, but Mr Corbell predicted it would exceed $100 million.
The strategy is the second such plan released by the Government, after a 2008 station relocation feasibility study conducted by SGS Economics and Planning was shelved.
That strategy would have had a net cost of around $82.5 million, with between $234 million and $257million over 25 years for capital improvements and maintenance of the sites.
The original strategy had been criticised by the United Firefighters Union, after concerns were raised about the methodology used to determine where stations should be located. Both the UFU and the Transport Workers Union, who represent ambulance officers, voiced full support for the latest strategy.
The Opposition, however, has criticised the Government's second effort for being more than three years late and more expensive than the original strategy, while claiming it delivered less facilities for emergency services.
Shadow emergency services spokesman Brendan Smyth said the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service had been the big losers from the new strategy.
He said that under the original strategy, the SES was to have new bases at Pialligo, Majura, and Belconnen, as well as upgrades at Rivers, Gungahlin and Woden.
The RFS was supposed to receive new sheds at Uriarra and Majura, with upgrades at Guises Creek, Hall and Molonglo, according to MrSmyth. He said all of those projects were missing from the new strategy.
Mr Corbell last night described this as inaccurate. Mr Corbell said the majority of those facilities had either already been built or were currently under construction.
Community briefings will take place on Tuesday in Belconnen and Wednesday in Tuggeranong, while members of the public can make site visits on November 12.