Edinburgh and East Lothian

There is one option for Edinburgh and East Lothian that involves four fire stations.

• Marionville
• Newcraighall
• Musselburgh
• Tranent

• Close Marionville which has one appliance that is crewed by wholetime firefighters. Move this appliance to Newcraighall and increase this station so that it will have two wholetime appliances; AND
• Close Musselburgh station which has one appliance that is crewed by wholetime firefighters. Move this appliance to a new-build station at Tranent and increase this station so that it will have two appliances, one crewed by wholetime firefighters and one crewed by on call firefighters.

Pros

• More effective distribution of resources across the east of Edinburgh and East Lothian.
• Newcraighall site can accommodate a second appliance and maximises the investment there.
• RAAC will be addressed at Tranent and Marionville.
• Musselburgh site is unsuitable and crew will be relocated to new station.
• An overall capital saving of around £24 million by not rebuilding or refurbishing Marionville and Musselburgh stations.
• The sale of three sites – Marionville, Musselburgh and Tranent - would provide around £1.1 million income to invest in other stations.
• A saving of around £229,000 in annual running costs would be redirected.
• Five staff could be transferred to other key roles across training, prevention and operational resilience.

Cons

• There would be a moderate increase in first appliance response times within the immediate vicinity of Marionville and Musselburgh.
• The timing of the Musselburgh closure and the transfer of appliance is reliant on a new build at Tranent.
• £10 million investment required for a new build at Tranent.

Marionville and Tranent are both affected by RAAC and require urgent repair. Musselburgh is an expensive site deemed unfit for purpose.

With Marionville located so close to McDonald Road, we could combine these four stations into two to create a more effective distribution of operational resources to meet risk and demand across the east of Edinburgh and East Lothian.

It would be very expensive to demolish and rebuild Marionville in its current location and the identified optimal location in Duddingston is not available and would be unaffordable.

Newcraighall has received a £2.6 million upgrade and can accommodate a second wholetime appliance from Marionville.

By adding another appliance into Newcraighall, there is little operational benefit in keeping Musselburgh on its current site, which is also deemed unfit for purpose.

We must rebuild Tranent and therefore could build a new station with an additional wholetime appliance.