THE new joint fire service between Dorset and Wiltshire will operate from a new base in Salisbury.

It was decided last year the two fire services will combine to form one in a move to save millions of pounds each year.

Both faced becoming bankrupt in several years if the merger was not made, with the possibility of Swindon losing at least one fire station.

When the move was first put forward it was decided the best location to be based in would be in South Wiltshire.

And advanced discussions to move to the Five Rivers Community Campus in Salisbury are under way.

Christopher Devine, the chairman of the Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority, said: “Salisbury is absolutely in the middle of the new Dorset and Wiltshire area, so it was the ideal place to have a new headquarters.”

“A working group has been looking at options for the exact location of where it will be in Salisbury.

“The most promising new location will be at Five Rivers Leisure Centre.

“We’re in negotiations with Wiltshire Council, which would love to have us there.”

Wiltshire Fire and Rescue currently has its headquarters near Devizes.

The future of that building has not yet been decided.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Fire and Rescue said:“The Shadow Dorset And Wiltshire Fire And Rescue Authority has agreed to establish a strategic hub in south Wiltshire, in time for the new Fire And Rescue Service coming into being on April 1 next year.

“Discussions are on-going for a preferred site in the centre of Salisbury.

“The intention is for this strategic hub to provide a central workplace for the service’s management team and some support functions; “It will also provide a number of ‘hot desks’ for personnel from across the new service, as part of a wider new approach to working across Wiltshire and Dorset.

“ And it will be a meeting place for teams/departments and the new Fire Authority.”

As it stands the number of personnel who will move to the new site has not been decided.

However, as part of the merger there was an assurance there would be no cuts to frontline services.

The spokesman said: “We are in the process of determining which members of staff might be permanently relocated to Salisbury from other parts of Wiltshire and Dorset.

“This is being done as part of developing the new organisational structure, and decisions have yet to be made.”