The North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) will expand an ageing ambulance hub in Salford after council planners greenlit demolition orders.
Emergency ambulances have been using the Charles Street base – just 200 yards off the A6 Broad Street – for the past 30 years, and it is considered “a key operational site close to Manchester and the extensive North West motorway network”.
But demand is on the rise to get more emergency response vehicles on the road, so NWAS is looking to expand the outdated facilities at this busy base.
Staff numbers are not expected to change significantly, but more ambulances and support vehicles should be able to attend incidents more quickly thanks to the expansion.
The station sits next door to a derelict, vacant clubhouse which was owned and run by the Royal Atediluvian Order of the Buffalo – a charitable foundation not unlike Rotary clubs.
That’s been empty since 2001 and the site around it is getting progressively more and more scruffy and overgrown.
NWAS want to demolish the vacant clubhouse so they can expand parking, create new entry point on Charles Street, and bring in new facilities like five electric charging bays at the Salford Ambulance Station.
These charging bays have been “proven to reduce response times”, say NWAS, as first repsonders and paramedics can get to their vehicles more quickly.
The one-way system of entry and exit on site will continue but “in an effort to meet government-led emergency response times and staffing levels, obstructions need to be minimised”.
Now planning permission has been granted NWAS are expected to negotiate with current landowners Salford City Council to buy the Buffalo Club land.
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Planning documents state: “Overall Salford Station has inadequate space available across the site for both accommodation and parking.
“Increased staff numbers, associated administrative staff, workshops, staff parking, operational parking and general accommodation all fall short of the current requirements in response to the increasing demand for emergency response vehicles.”
“The North West Ambulance Service as a whole is experiencing increased demand for emergency response vehicles and the existing facilities have become outdated and are in need of modernisation.
“The availability of the adjoining land has seen Salford Station now raise in priority.”
“This is a brownfield site in a derelict state of repair and this is the ideal opportunity for all parties, including local residents, to benefit from its clean up,” the report notes.
A spokesperson for North West Ambulance Service told SalfordOnline.com: “We are always looking at ways in which we can make efficiency savings with the minimum disruption to our frontline operations, which has included a review of our ambulance stations and how we can help serve the current needs of the local community.
“Salford ambulance station was opened 52 years ago and is in need of modernisation to improve facilities for more staff and accommodate the increase in the number and different types of specialised vehicles we have.
“We are continuing to review our estates appropriately and utilise other sites when opportunities arise.
“This may in the future include sharing premises with our fire and police colleagues, which has already proved successful throughout the North West and helped to improve our working relationship and practices to benefit the local population, as well as the obvious financial benefits.”
