FIRE STATION-DIAMOND JUBILEE PROJECT
Agents Prospectus (.pdf)
THE PROJECT
The Fire Brigade have put the Cookham Fire Station on the market for tenders to be submitted by 2 September 2011. The suggestion has been put forward that the building could be used as a Cookham Community Project for such things as a Sports Hall and Visitors Centre. We shall probably put a letter of intent forward to the agent for 2 September 2011, but we do need to ensure that there is an interest in the idea for such a facility and then of course we will need to find funding.
If anyone has any ideas please contact us at firestationproject@cookham.com or phone 01628 525130.
The
site measures about 60 ft (18.2 m.) on the frontage by about 189 ft (57.6
m)depth; i.e. about a quarter of an acre. Apart from the substantial
forecourt the most notable feature is the large rear yard, which is about
87 ft. (26.5m. ) deep behind the building and has an area of about 5,220
sg.ft. (485 sq.m.). There is an underground water tank in the
north-west corner and a steel tower close to the back boundary.
The
building falls roughly into two halves. The front part is a
full-height garage, which is accessed by two vertical shutter doors,
measures about 8.7 m by 9.3 m (81 sq.m.) and has a headroom of about 4.87
m. It appears to provide clear, unobstructed space although I could
not verify this since it is half full of firemen’s uniforms. (Really !).
The only natural light in this area comes through small inspection
panels in the front doors. The rear part comprises a series of small rooms
on the ground floor, whose main access is from a pedestrian entrance on
the north side. There is a male toilet on this floor. Two of
the rooms in this area are accessed from the garage area. A
staircase leads up to a first floor which contains a large room measuring
about 6.3 m by 9.2 m (58 sq.m.), which has a wood strip floor and may have
been used as a club room. There is a second toilet up here and a
kitchen.
Superficially the building appears to be substantial. The external walls seem to be of load-bearing brickwork and the roof is covered with interlocking tiles. The internal partitions on the ground floor may also be in masonry and seem, in part at least to provide support to the upper floor. The building has a gas-fired, hot water central heating system. There is no firemen’s pole ! Redecoration is required.
1920 - Land purchased from Fuller & Story and paid for by Cookham residents and set up as a Trust. Trust let it out to the Cookham & District Athletics Club on a ten year lease.
1933 - Trustees let the area to Cookham Fire Brigade for 21 years.
1938 - Fire Brigade Act made Rural District Council responsible for Fire Brigade.
1940 - RDC purchased the land from the Trust. (We need proof of this as it could just have been commandeered because of the war).
1948 - Berkshire & Reading Fire Brigade Created
1972 - An extra piece of land (next to Marsh Meadow) purchased from James Durfield.
2011 - 1 April Fire Station officially closed
2011 - 2 September tenders for purchase
to be submitted to Fire Brigade agents, Hub
Professional Services, Caversham info@hubps.co.uk
01189 187830
Prior
to 1938, there were some 1600 local fire brigades in operation.
In
1920 the land premises situated thereon was purchased from Messrs Fuller
Story and Co by certain local citizens who each put up a sum of money and
agreed that the property was to be held on Trust for sale, with the use
and benefit of the property being given to the Cookham and District
Athletics Club for a period of 10 years.
In
1933 the site was let by the Trustees to the Cookham Fire Brigade for a
period of 21 years.
In
1938 the Fire Brigades Act
constituted the councils of all county
boroughs and
county districts (municipal
boroughs, urban
and rural
districts) as fire
authorities. The councils were required to provide the services for
their borough or district of such a fire brigade and of such fire engines,
appliances and equipment as may be necessary to meet efficiently all
normal requirements. Thus
the Cookham RDC became responsible for fire services.
In
1940 Cookham Rural District Council purchased the site of Cookham Fire
Station from the Trustees referred to above.
In August 1941 by virtue of the National
Fire Services (Emergency Provisions) Act local authority fire brigades
in Great Britain were combined into a National
Fire Service (NFS).
This continued until 1947 when the Fire
Services Act (s.4) transferred
fire-fighting functions from the National Fire Service to fire brigades
maintained by the councils of counties and county boroughs.
At this point responsibility for fire services moved from district
level to county/ county borough level and never returned to district
level.
The County Council of Berkshire and the County Borough of Reading agreed to provide a joint service and in 1948 by virtue of the Berkshire and Reading Fire Services (Combination Order) 1948, the Berkshire and Reading Fire Brigade was created, administered by the Berkshire and Reading Fire Authority. Cookham Fire Station is shown in the Table forming part of that Order as being under the control of the newly created Berkshire and Reading Fire Service.
This remained the position until 1974 when by
virtue of the Local
Government Act 1972
(LGA) the
administration of local government on and after 1 April 1974, England was
re-organised and divided into local government areas known as counties and
in those counties there were local government areas known as districts.
By virtue of s.1 (10) of the same Act, the local government areas
existing immediately before 1 April 1974 outside of Greater London and all
administrative counties, boroughs ceased to exist.
Schedule 1 Part II LGA 1972 designates the pre 1974 administrative county of
Berkshire as falling within the new Berkshire County (save for those areas
removed to Oxfordshire).
Section 197 of the Act required every council of a new county or
every new fire authority established for a combined area by any such
scheme which will not come into full operation until 1st April 1974 not
later than the 1st January 1974 to prepare and submit to the Secretary of
State for his approval an establishment scheme for a fire brigade for the
county or combined area under section 19 FSA 1947 to come into force on
1st April 1974.
Under this Act the Berkshire and Reading Fire Authority was
disestablished and responsibility for Fire Services fell to the new
Berkshire County Council.
The existing Berkshire and Reading Brigade moved to the new county
council and became the Royal Berkshire Fire Brigade.
The English
Non Metropolitan Districts Order 1972 (SI 2039) Schedule, Part 3
defined the Non Metropolitan County named in the Schedule (Berkshire) as
being divided into Districts as identified by reference numbers in column
1 of that part and each such District comprising the area specified in
respect thereof by reference to the administrative areas existing
immediately before the passing of the LGA 1972 in column 2.
The English
Non Metropolitan Districts (Names) Order (SI 551) Schedule to the
Order establishes the names of the Districts within the new counties and
the Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order (SI 1110) established
Parishes for former Urban District Councils and Boroughs
The Local Authorities (England) (Property etc) Order 1972 established
the transfer of property to identified successor authorities.
Schedule 2 identifies the Berkshire and Reading Combined Fire
Authority as a Transferor Authority and the County Council of Berkshire as
the Transferee (or receiving authority).
By this order, property of the Berkshire and Reading Combined
Authority became the property of Berkshire County Council.
In
1996 by virtue of The
Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996, Berkshire
County Council was abolished and 6 Unitary Councils were created on 1
April 1998. By virtue of The
Berkshire Fire Services (Combination Scheme Order) 1997 the Royal
Berkshire Fire Authority was created with effect from 9 November 1997 as a
shadow authority and from 1 April 1998 in full.
S.25 of the Order provides that all property which was held by the
Berkshire County Council solely in connection with the provision of fire
services was transferred to the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority.