Wargrave Fire Station to close, fire authority decides

Wargrave Fire Station opened in 1903, and has a single fire engine at its site

The oldest and smallest fire station in Berkshire is to close.

The Royal Berkshire Fire Authority (RBFA) voted to shut Wargrave station, which holds a single fire engine, after deciding it was financially unviable.

Plans to shut the station, which opened in 1903, were approved in 2017 but a final decision was delayed three times, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It will close on Wednesday, with staff being offered roles elsewhere.

'Engine doing nothing'

The RBFA, made up of of councillors responsible for the fire service budget, held a public consultation in 2017 to make savings of £2.4m.

The station was subsequently told to increase the availability of its crew or be closed, but the targets were consistently missed.

The meeting heard the station had lost several experienced staff members and that it was taking time to recruit and train new ones.

Closing the site would only decrease the average response time by about 13 seconds, councillors were told.

Eleven members of the RBFA backed the closure, while seven voted against.

Labour councillor for Reading Paul Gittings opposed the move, saying: "It just does not feel right, in the middle of a global pandemic, to close Berkshire's oldest fire station, however valid the reasons might be."

But Wokingham Conservative councillor Pauline Helliar-Symons said: "We've spent thousands and thousands of pounds just to have a fire engine sitting in a building doing nothing."

A report will to come before the committee later in the year about the future of the site.