Kent Fire and Rescue Service is opening five new stations

Five fire stations are to be built in Kent - just months after eight across the county were shut.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service said the bases will be in Ash-cum-Ridley, Ramsgate, Rochester, Gillingham and Herne Bay.

They will be built in the next year and come after a review of the county's fire stations.

The Rochester station will also provide road safety training for local young people - in response to sobering statistics that almost 200 people under 25 are killed or seriously injured on the county's roads every year.

The announcement comes after it was revealed in February part-time stations in Halling, St Margaret's at Cliffe, Sturry, Matfield, Queenborough, Rusthall, Seal and Horton Kirby would close by April.

The shake-up followed warnings KFRS should expect a major cut in the amount of money it receives from the government - thought to be in the region of £12 million over the next three years.

However, by the end of the next financial year KFRS says it will have made savings of more than £7million as part of a cost-cutting drive.

The announcement of the new fire stations comes in KFRS's annual safety plan.

Other projects listed for this year include investing in more off-road vehicles for incidents that fire engines cannot reach.

Bryan Cope, chairman of the Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "We are putting the foundations in place to build a service ready to meet the changing needs of local people.

"That means we must look forward, modernise and if necessary take tough decisions, but always with one end in sight – the safety of local people.

"To do this, we are using cutting edge technology to improve how we fight fires, giving our staff the best training and - to avoid fires and accidents in the first place - providing residents with essential information to keep themselves safe."