New £14 million ambulance hub for Shropshire to support future of emergency care
West Midlands Ambulance Service said it will "future proof ambulance provision within the county for the next 30 years"
West Midlands Ambulance Service is set to invest £14.2 million in a new operational hub for Shrewsbury.
The new base which meets the latest Net Zero requirements will future proof ambulance provision within the county for the next 30 years, according to the ambulance service.
The proposed purpose built facility will be sited at Emstrey Bank just off the A5, with the ambulance service saying this will provide "good access to all parts of the county".
It will have capacity for over 500 staff, roughly double the capacity of the current site in Longden Road, and will allow for over 50 ambulances to be based there, with expanded on site fleet maintenance and ‘make ready’ provision for preparing the ambulances.
Operational Support Services Director, Craig Cooke, said: “This is a real step change in the provision we are providing for the community in Shropshire with a significant development that will meet the needs of local people for years to come.
“We acknowledged some time ago that we needed to move from our current site, but such a large scale development does take time, not just finding the right location, but also the funding for it.
“The site meets the latest planning requirements with a BREEAM Excellent Rating which looks at the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of buildings. The site will be fully electric vehicle enabled for the future as well.”
Shropshire Senior Operations Manager, Will Gould, added: “Talking to staff, they are very excited about the move. It will be a considerable upgrade on what we have at the moment with better facilities as well as better resilience.
“From a public perspective, it will give us an excellent point with which to access the road network in Shropshire which can only help us get to patients more quickly than we do currently.
“It obviously means that we will no longer be in a residential area which I am sure will also be popular with local people.”
The planning application is expected to be submitted to Shropshire County Council in the next few weeks.
Mr Gould said the ambulance service "recognises the current location is not ideal in terms of responding to the public" and that it's hoped the new site will be completed by 2028.
He contonued: "We've clearly invested in future growth in terms of, you know, our workforce and recognising that the population in Shrewsbury is only going to get bigger as well.
"We have found an ideal site that we'll be able to serve the population of Shrewsbury from and we should be able to reach all areas of Shrewsbury and Shropshire faster than we've been able to operate now of our current site and location."