FIRE service chiefs will look to collaborate with other emergency services as they consider the future of the service’s headquarters.

In 2012, the service agreed to relocate from its base at Fulwood to Euxton at a cost of about £10million.

But the plan was shelved in 2013 because of budget cuts and remains so, pending the outcome of discussions with the police about shared estates strategy.

In a recent inspection, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services officers found Lancashire Fire Service should make the most of collaboration opportunities and ensure they are value for money.

Reporting inspector Phil Gormley said: “The service has plans in place to spend capital reserves down to minimum acceptable levels over the medium term.

"The two main capital projects will be the relocation or refurbishment of the current headquarters at Fulwood and the service’s largest fire station at Preston.

“The service has been prudent in not going ahead with these projects during the recent uncertain financial climate.

"We would encourage the service to explore fully the best value opportunities for collaboration before it proceeds with these significant projects.

Deputy chief fire officer Justin Johnston said: “We have a joint collaboration board between ourselves and the police.

“Currently we have two big sites - our fire headquarters in Fulwood and our training centre in Euxton.

“We will never move away from that training centre site because of all the range of activities that have been invested into it but when we consider the future of Fulwood we will look to see if there are any opportunities to collaborate further.

“We already collaborate significantly with the police. We run the drone team across fire and police and that flies every day piloted by our fire investigation officers.

“We do gaining entry for the ambulance service and police so when a patient can’t be reached because they’re behind a locked door in their house and they’ve fallen over or whatever it may be - our crews will go out there help.

“We are always looking to do more and we’ve got a plan.

Mr Johnston added: “Absolutely everyone should be considering sharing estates where possible. There’s the potential to have a good look at that but Fulwood will only ever be one of our buildings.

“It’s more important to look at our fire station stock and ask if we can do anything jointly with another agency.

“We need all our fire stations where they are to serve their communities but for example the new fire station that has just opened at Lancaster is combined with the ambulance service.

“It makes perfect sense because those people get to work alongside each other day in, day out and build good relationships.

“We’ve also got that at Darwen and in Preston and we have the police in at Preese Hall.

“Wherever there is an opportunity to work collaboratively, we will.

“That said, we are really confident that all our fire stations are in the right place to serve their communities.

“It’s more if there is an opportunity for someone to come and join us.”