Murray MacGregor – Tuesday 1st September 2026 – 9.00am.
West Midlands Ambulance Service is set to invest £14.2 million in a new operational hub for Shrewsbury.
The new base which meets the latest Net Zero requirements will future proof ambulance provision within the county for the next 30 years.
The proposed purpose built facility will be sited at Emstrey Bank just off the A5 but with good access to all parts of the county.
It has capacity for over 500 staff, roughly double the capacity of the current site in Longden Road. It will allow for over 50 ambulances to be based there, with expanded on site fleet maintenance and ‘make ready’ provision for preparing the ambulances. Based on the learning from other hub developments, there are expanded, purpose built training facilities as well as better accommodation for staff when they are on a break during their shift.
Operational Support Services Director, Craig Cooke, said: “This is a real step change in the provision we are providing for the community in Shropshire with a significant development that will meet the needs of local people for years to come.
“We acknowledged some time ago that we needed to move from our current site, but such a large scale development does take time, not just finding the right location, but also the funding for it.
“The site meets the latest planning requirements with a BREEAM Excellent Rating which looks at the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of buildings. The site will be fully electric vehicle enabled for the future as well.”
Shropshire Senior Operations Manager, Will Gould, added: “Talking to staff, they are very excited about the move. It will be a considerable upgrade on what we have at the moment with better facilities as well as better resilience.
“From a public perspective, it will give us an excellent point with which to access the road network in Shropshire which can only help us get to patients more quickly than we do currently.
“It obviously means that we will no longer be in a residential area which I am sure will also be popular with local people.”
The planning application is expected to be submitted to Shropshire County Council in the next few weeks.
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