NI Fire Service plans for £42.2m facility approved in County Tyrone

Construction on the £42.2m training facility will begin in 2022

A new £42.2m training facility for the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) in County Tyrone has been granted planning approval by Mid Ulster District Council.

It plans to develop the NIFRS Learning and Development Centre, which opened at Desertcreat, near Cookstown, in 2019.

The NIFRS said the project would represent the largest capital investment in its history.

Construction work is due to begin in 2022 and be complete by 2024.

The plans include a specialist driving and road traffic collision training area and a training environment for collapsed buildings and below ground rescue.

The training space will also include a flood water rescue training facility and a "call-out village".

The plans include a flood water rescue training facility and a call out village

Health Minister Robin Swann said the planning approval was "hugely welcome".

"It is vitally important that firefighters can avail of the best training to equip them for the challenges they may face," he added.

Chief Fire and Rescue Officer Michael Graham said the plans represented a "key cornerstone in the creation of a safe and effective fire and rescue service".

He said the facility is an investment "in lifelong learning" and will "transform the learning experience of our people".

The facility will include a training environment for collapsed buildings and below ground rescue

First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill welcomed the approval of planning permission.

"We are another important step closer to opening the doors on a world-class firefighter training centre which can simulate real life and death scenarios," Mrs Foster said.

She said the new facilities will enable a "transformation" in how training is delivered.

Ms O'Neill also said the investment in her Mid Ulster constituency would provide "a real boost for the regional economy and the people of the area".

"The new centre will benefit us all; through the continued development of a first-class fire and rescue service that protects our whole community," she said.

College site 16 years in the making

Proposals for the site at Desertcreat have been dogged by problems since the Policing Board announced in February 2004 that a £80m police training college for Northern Ireland would be built there.

Although planning permission was granted in 2005 for a state-of-the art college, it was later reported the same year that the new academy would cost £50m more than expected and would not be completed until 2009.

In February 2007, the government announced it planned to provide all the funding for a new joint police, fire and prison service college at the 210-acre site.

Planning permission was granted for the training centre in 2013, but in November 2014 a steering group overseeing the development said the project should not continue.

The scheme was subsequently scrapped and it later emerged that Northern Ireland had lost £53m of public money that had been earmarked for the joint training college, with a Stormont committee being told the Treasury had withdrawn the funding.

Plans for the college were radically redrawn.

It was announced the fire and rescue service would get a £44m purpose-built complex at Desertcreat, while the PSNI would be given about £20m to refurbish its existing training facilities in east Belfast.

The prison service would receive funding for training at Maghaberry and Magilligan prisons.