New 24/7 ambulance hub and multi-storey car park in Ipswich unanimously supported
It will support 97 staff
Proposals for a new 24/7 ambulance hub and multi-storey car park in Ipswich have been unanimously supported.
Members of Ipswich’s planning and development committee unanimously approved the delivery of plans for a new state-of-the-art ambulance hub.
The plans were submitted by the East Of England Ambulance Trust and will support 97 staff in the delivery of medical services.
The new hub and three-storey car park will be located on a plot of land north of The Havens, within Ipswich’s Ransomes industrial estate.
Alan Adams, a senior paramedic, said the hub was essential in allowing the trust to deliver its services across the wider region.
He added that a new hub would help the trust retain its staff as several of its buildings were no longer up to standard, some of which date back to the 1950s.
Although the new hub would also include space for the storage of medical and other supplies, it would not be a base for emergency response.
Instead, paramedics would park on-site at the start of their shift and collect their emergency or non-emergency ambulance before leaving the site for a more local stationing point from which to respond to local emergencies.
The approved three-storey car park will allow for 70 staff places, 42 double-staffed ambulances, five response cars, eight visitor spaces, and two disabled bays — a 10-space cycle shelter was also in the plans.
Despite this, the county council’s highways department submitted a formal holding objection due to a lack of information about the amount of staff and cycle access, lack of electric vehicle charging provision, and excessive access points.
This was criticised by Cllr Adam Rae who argued the county council of attempting block to the hub.
He said: “People in Ipswich would be astonished the county is trying to block the delivery of a new ambulance hub — it beggars belief.
“There’s a lot of people in Ipswich who have suffered harm because the ambulance service hasn’t got to them in time.”
A county council spokesperson refuted comments the authority tried to block the hub, adding it was fulfilling its duties as an independent technical advisor.