Changes to more than 30 fire stations approved by SFRS Board
Changes to more than 30 fire stations approved by SFRS Board
Decisions have been taken by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board on proposed changes at more than 30 fire stations.
This follows an extensive nationwide Service Delivery Review undertaken as part of continuing work to modernise the Service and ensure operational resources are matched to changing risk and demand.
The Board met today [Monday, 22 June] to consider and decide whether the Service should proceed with a suite of recommendations developed from the 23 options for change consulted on during 2025.
Changes (full list further below)
Two new fire stations will be built in East Lothian and Glasgow. This will see the construction of two-pump stations at Cowcaddens (wholetime) and Tranent (wholetime and on call) and the closure of single-pump stations at Yorkhill and Musselburgh.
This will require more than £20 million investment in new, state-of-the-art modern facilities for staff, with the potential for capital receipts from the two sites.
Five long-term dormant fire stations which have no staff will close. These are Crianlarich, Fetlar, Nethy Bridge, Ratagan and Isle of Muck.
Six volunteer staff will now be consulted on potential redundancy prior to any final decision on the future of a further three long-term dormant stations – Colintraive, Corriecravie and Kerrera.
A day-shift duty system (DSDS) will be implemented at Hawick, Helensburgh, Cumbernauld, Milngavie. These four sites are affected by RAAC and confirmation of changes to the duty system will allow remediation work and station upgrades to begin. Tranent is also affected but is being rebuilt.
More than 60 staff from areas with lower operational demand will be redeployed into other safety-critical roles across prevention, training and operational delivery, and around 20 new on call roles will be created with additional targeted recruitment campaigns to be launched.
Additional day shift duty system wholetime firefighters will be put in place in East Lothian, this will result in one additional appliance being introduced into our current operational model.
Further options to support the on-call across the Scottish Borders will be developed.
The agreed changes will see the permanent removal of the second wholetime appliances at Hamilton and Govan. In addition, the removal of wholetime appliances at selected locations and the reinstatement of second pumps at other identified locations, following temporary changes implemented in 2023.
A wholetime appliance will be permanently removed from both Springburn and Balmossie.
However, appliances previously removed under the temporary arrangements will be reinstated at Kingsway East, Maryhill and the new-build station at Cowcaddens.
Three combined aerial rescue pumps (CARP) will be permanently replaced with dedicated high reach appliances (HRA) at Dunfermline, Perth and Greenock. These changes have been in place temporarily since 2023.
The delivery of all changes will take place within the next five years.
Mhairi Wylie, Chair of the Board, said: “The Service Delivery Review is about ensuring that resources across Scotland are used to best meet risk and demand, ensuring parity and fairness across communities.
“We recognise the strength of feeling that exists in some communities. As a Board, we take this extremely seriously and the public consultation has been invaluable in shaping the recommendations and decisions.
“There are some options that we will not be proceeding with, and others will be deferred to explore further arrangements.
“We have listened to the concerns raised, and we will continue to closely monitor the impact of any changes.
“These decisions have been taken with community safety and firefighter safety as the primary considerations, while delivering best value for the people of Scotland.
“We believe these changes are transparent, evidence-led, legally robust and operationally deliverable. They will ensure the Service continues to be a leading exemplar of public sector reform.”
The Board approved the recommendation not to proceed with the closure of Marionville in Edinburgh and relocation of this appliance to Newcraighall.
A decision has been deferred on the appliance configuration in Fife subject to further analysis. The existing arrangement – second pumps temporarily withdrawn from Glenrothes and Methil – will continue until further notice.
Following the Board’s decisions, individual consultation will now be undertaken with each affected employee in line with existing SFRS policies and procedures.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Chief Officer Stuart Stevens said: “The Service Delivery Review is a critical programme to modernise how we work and deliver long-term sustainability.
“Its primary purpose is to ensure that we meet emerging risk and demand across Scotland, while enabling us to address urgent property issues.
“These changes are the start of a strategic redesign of the Service to improve outcomes for the communities of Scotland.
“We recognise that this process has been challenging and, at times, emotive for our staff and communities where changes are proposed.
“There have been extensive efforts to engage with staff and communities to fully understand their views. We have taken great care to analyse the feedback received and ensured it has been given thorough and considered attention.”
The public consultation ran for a period of 12 weeks and closed in September 2025. This involved 40 public events across Scotland and received more than 3,600 responses.
In line with best consultation practice, our independently facilitated meetings were a combination of in-person, online and drop-in sessions in communities potentially affected by the options for change.
Independent external expertise ensured the process has been robust, impartial and transparent.
DECISIONS IN FULL
Long-term dormant stations (without staff)
- Close the long-term dormant station at Crianlarich (Stirlingshire)
- Close the long-term dormant station on the isle of Fetlar (Shetland)
- Close the long-term dormant station at Nethy Bridge (Highland)
- Close the long-term dormant station at Ratagan (Highland)
- Close the long-term dormant station on the Isle of Muck (Highland)
Long-term dormant stations (with employees and no applicants)
- Approve the commencement of redundancy consultation with affected staff on the potential closure of Colintraive (Argyll and Bute) which has employees but no prospective applicants, to inform final decision pending the outcome of employee consultation.
- Approve the commencement of redundancy consultation with affected staff on the potential closure of Corriecravie (isle of Arran, North Ayrshire), which has employees but no prospective applicants, to inform final decision pending the outcome of employee consultation.
Long-term dormant stations (with employees and applicants)
- Approve the commencement of redundancy consultation at this point with affected staff on the potential closure of Kerrera (Argyll and Bute), which has employees and applicants but insufficient potential for long term sustainability, to inform final decision pending the outcome of employee consultation.
East Service Delivery Area
- Close Musselburgh station which has one appliance that is crewed by wholetime firefighters. Move this appliance to a new-build two appliance station at Tranent, with one crewed by wholetime firefighters and one crewed by on-call firefighters; AND additionally, introduce additional wholetime dayshift resource to support on-call capacity in East Lothian and resilience more widely.
- Do not proceed with the Edinburgh component (Marionville and Newcraighall).
- Permanently replace the third appliance at Dunfermline which was a combined aerial rescue pump (CARP), with a dedicated high reach appliance (HRA), and defer decision on the remainder of the options pending further consideration of an alternative proposal to permanently implement the current temporary wholetime pump withdrawal configuration. This reduced the number of wholetime appliances at both Glenrothes AND Methil from two to one.
- Introduce Day Shift Duty System crewing for the 1st pumping appliance at Hawick station, which is currently crewed by wholetime firefighters. This would see this appliance crewed by wholetime firefighters during the day from Monday to Friday. It would be crewed by on-call firefighters out with these times. The 2nd pumping appliance would continue to be crewed by on-call firefighters; AND as an amendment to the proposed Nucleus Crew at Galashiels, there is a commitment to explore arrangements for deploying additional wholetime employees in support of on-call availability during day-shift hours when this is most challenging.
North Service Delivery Area
- Remove the wholetime appliance from Balmossie station and maintain one on-call appliance at the station; AND Reinstate the second wholetime appliance at Kingsway East station that was temporarily removed in September 2023.
- Replace the third appliance at Perth, which is a combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) with a dedicated high reach appliance (HRA). The pumping capability of the third appliance (CARP) was temporarily withdrawn and only its HRA capability has been utilised since September 2023.
West Service Delivery Area
- Introduce an alternative duty system for the first appliance at Helensburgh, which is currently crewed by wholetime firefighters. This would see that appliance crewed by wholetime firefighters during the day from Monday to Friday and crewed by on-call firefighters out with these hours. The second on-call appliance would remain unchanged.
- Introduce an alternative duty system for the appliance at Milngavie, which is currently crewed by wholetime firefighters. This would see the appliance crewed by wholetime firefighters during day shift hours from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm and crewed by on-call firefighters out with these hours.
- Rebuild Cowcaddens on the adjacent Maitland Street site. Reinstate the second wholetime pumping appliance that was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023; AND Reduce the number of wholetime pumping appliances based at Springburn from two to one; AND Close Yorkhill which has one wholetime pumping appliance based there; AND Reinstate the second wholetime appliance at Maryhill that was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023; AND Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Govan from two to one. The second appliance was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023.
- Replace the second wholetime appliance at Greenock, which is a combined aerial rescue pump (CARP) with a dedicated high reach appliance. The second appliance (CARP) was temporarily withdrawn and replaced with a high reach appliance (HRA) in September 2023.
- Introduce an alternative duty system for the second appliance at Cumbernauld, which is currently crewed by wholetime firefighters. This would see that appliance crewed by wholetime firefighters during the day from Monday to Friday and crewed by on-call firefighters out with these times. The first wholetime appliance would be unchanged; AND Reduce the number of wholetime appliances based at Hamilton from two to one. The second appliance was temporarily withdrawn in September 2023.