TWO emergency services facing budget pressures are to share a base in a city as part of a drive to cut costs.

North Yorkshire Police's move to a new building on North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service's site in Stonebridgegate, Ripon will see the force achieving a long-held ambition to move out of its North Street station, which its says is too large, in need of repair and expensive to maintain.

Police, who say the scheme will save them more than £3.7 million over 30 years, will occupy around a third of the building, which will replace the fire service's premises.

The cost of the project to the force will be under £800,000, but the new building will allow the force to save more than £120,000 per year on its current Ripon and Boroughbridge estate costs.

The agreement to sell the North Street site was agreed in October last year, subject to planning permission.

Police from the Boroughbridge police station, in New Row, which will also be sold, will move to Stonebridgegate mid-way through next year, initially occupying temporary buildings until the new facilities are completed by the summer of 2017.

The fire service had previously identified its Ripon fire station as a priority for redevelopment, due to its ageing buildings and components and as the site was considered too large for requirements.

The service said it had no financial provision for the project in its draft five-year capital programme, and a budget estimate of £2.5 million had been identified as part of feasibility work to provide a three-bay fire station.

The fire service will look to sell surplus land on the Stonebridegate site "for the best market consideration" once the building work is completed.

Julia Mulligan, the force's Police and Crime Commissioner, has previously stated that she intends to cut the cost of running buildings for the force to maximise money for frontline operations.

She said: "Co-location with other public-sector partners is very much the way forward, as we look for ways to reduce our costs and improve our service, and the Stonebridgegate site keeps the police right at the centre of Ripon.

"The new building will involve some initial cost, but overall we will save a significant amount of money – money that is better spent on people, and not property.”

Dave Jones, the force's Chief Constable, added: "Our stations in Ripon and Boroughbridge were dilapidated, and not fit-for-purpose for a modern police service."