ONE of the country's first fire stations to be built with private cash may be in operation by the end of next year.

But a fire brigade union warned it would fight the scheme and said the move was one step away from privatising the whole of the fire service.

Hyndburn Council planning committee will tomorrow discuss the £1.6 million Private Finance Initiative bid from Manchester company PFF Lancashire Ltd in a 30-year contract with Lancashire Combined Fire Authority.

If planning permission is given, the station will be built on a former landfill site on Hyndburn Road, Church to replace the base on Manchester Road, Accrington.

The deal will give the company ownership of the building and it will be responsible for its maintenance with the fire authority paying a sum over 30 years until it is returned to public ownership.

The bid also includes a second £1.6 million fire station in Morecambe and is seen as the start of a wave of PFI stations around the country.

Fire chiefs say there are no plans to transfer the 70 fire officers and three fire engines based at Accrington to the books of PFF Lancashire.

However, the three civilian staff, currently employed by another private contractor, will be employed by the company.

David Croft director of PFF Lancashire, a subsidiary of Carden Croft and Co based in Old Trafford Manchester, estimated the station would take about nine months to complete.

He said: "

"The first completed PFI station was in Stretford, and the stations in Church and Morecambe will be the next two to be built in th country."

The move is the last leg in a three year process, with the Government giving its consent for the PFI last year.

Fire bosses had been trying to raise cash to replace the existing station since the 1960s and shelved plans in the early 1990s when money ran out.

But Regional Health and Safety officer for the Fire Brigades Union, Ken Wheeler, said: "We are totally against it. The brigade should be self sufficient and if the new system doesn't work there will be no way out.

"PFI is bizarre and it's a case of double standards. When authorities ask for funding they are denied, but when they ask for more in relation to a PFI deal, they get it.

"How long is it going to be until they privatise the fire officers jobs? We've got to stop this nationally and I should imagine we will be launching a campaign against this.'

But deputy chief fire officer Gerry O'Neill argued the authority had no alternative. He said :"We have been trying to build a new fire station for years but PFI is the only game in town nowadays in terms of capital projects.

"Without the private cash, we would not have been able to do this."

The Coal Authority and Lancashire County Council, who had no objections to the move, though Hyndburn Council environmental health department, recommended a gas survey to check the safety of the site.

The Environment Agency is to report on the proposal, which will require the removal 22 metres of trees protected by a Tree Preservation Order.

Leading fire fighter George Mulloney, who works at the Accrington station, welcomed the news.

He said: "Our current place is a cramped, old building and expensive to maintain, so we're happy about the move, though we are a bit sentimental about leaving. But by relocating, we will be more versatile with greater access to other parts of the region."