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Plans to build a new £5m fire station in Chester have been approved.

Cheshire Fire Authority have been given permission to demolish the current St Anne Street station and build a state-of-the-art replacement.

Cheshire West and Chester councillors rejected a proposal last November due to the site's proximity to planned apartments, but the station was moved further away in the second plan.

A temporary station will be erected while the work takes place.

Urging the council's planning committee to approve the scheme, Mark Cashin, chief fire officer at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), told members the decision to build a new station had "not been taken lightly".

He said the current station, which was built in 1971, was "outdated and inefficient, and about a third of it is unused and unusable," the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"It is incapable of meeting modern requirements and refurbishment - whilst possible - would require significant works and be costly.

"As chief fire officer my priority is the safety and welfare of our firefighters, and the safety of the people of Cheshire. I believe the proposed scheme will better fulfil those priorities."

Members approved the scheme by six votes to two.

Plans for the new station had caused controversy.

The Chester Retired Firefighters group had been campaigning for the money to be spent on bringing a second fire engine back to Chester city centre instead - after it was moved to Powey Lane station, in Mollington, two years ago - and their campaign had been backed by a 6,300-signature petition.

But fire chiefs insisted the cash for a second fire engine comes from a separate revenue pot to the station, which is a capital project, and Chester could have both a new station and a second engine.

Tony Jones, chairman of Chester Retired Firefighters, had highlighted noise impact and criticised the carbon footprint of building a new station instead of refurbishing the old one.