Agenda and minutes

Mr Peter Callis

 

The Chairman reported the death of former County Councillor Peter Callis.  Mr Callis had represented the Market Harborough Division, which in 2005 had become the Market Harborough West and Foxton Division.  He had been a member of the Council from 1993 – 2009.  He had served mainly on the Development Control and Regulatory Board and prior to the Cabinet/Scrutiny system being set up had been a member of the Environment Committee and a number of its subcommittees.

 

The Chairman invited the Council to stand in silent tribute to the memory of Mr Peter Callis.

 

Visitors

 

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting all visitors and guests of members and anyone who was viewing the meeting via the webcast.

 

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to make declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

 

No such declarations were made.

 

“That in light of the recent announcement of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority (CFA) to consult on significant reductions to Leicestershire’s Fire and Rescue Service, we believe the Council should respond to the CFA’s consultation and the Council’s response should be agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the Council.”

 

(A requisition for an Extraordinary Meeting of the Council for the purpose of considering this motion was put forward by five members of the Council, namely: Mr. Galton, Dr. Hill, Mr. Bray, Mr. Charlesworth and Mr. Wyatt.)

 

The consultation paper is available via

http://www.leicestershire-fire.gov.uk/images/pdfs/IRMP_Print_FINAL.pdf

 

 

It was moved by Mr Galton and seconded by Dr Hill:-

 

"That in light of the recent announcement of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority (CFA) to consult on significant reductions to Leicestershire’s Fire and Rescue Service, we believe the Council should respond to the CFA’s consultation and the Council’s response should be agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the Council."

 

An amendment was moved by Mr Charlesworth, and seconded by Mr Bray:-

 

“That the following words be added to the motion:-

 

‘2.      That this Council notes that:-

 

a)       Central Government Grant to the CFA is projected to fall from £17.8m in 2013/14 to £9.1m by 2019/20 an overall grant cut of 50%;

 

b)       That the CFA shares the County Council’s disadvantages in funding due to the national funding formula, and that attempts to lobby the Central Government on this issue have not yet been successful.

 

c)       The proposals being consulted on will result in:

i.        The removal of 11 fire engines; a third of the total currently in operation;

ii.        The loss of a large number of firefighters;

iii.       The closure of Kibworth Station and Central Fire Station;

iv.       The replacement of 3 Fire engines based at Coalville, Melton Mowbray and Billsedon with “Tactical Response Vehicles” and the removal of a fire engine from Hinckley and Loughborough fire stations.

 

3.       That this Council notes with concern:-

 

a)       The Fire Brigade Union’s claims that:

                                               i.          Tactical Response Vehicles do not have the equipment or sufficient crew to carry out lifesaving actions;

                                              ii.          Response times will be increased even where the first appliance arrives within ten minutes as there will often be a longer wait to get sufficient crews and resources to safely carry out a rescue or deal with an incident;

                                            iii.          Closure of the Central and Kibworth stations will significantly increase the risk that the 10min response target for life risk incidents will not be met;

                                            iv.          County wide capacity will be reduced to dangerous levels and would mean that the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue would frequently attend incidents that require a level of response that the service would not be capable of if these proposals were agreed;

                                             v.          That there is a stark difference of opinion between upper management and frontline firefighters on the safety of these proposals.

                                            vi.          That the recent scrapping of the CFA’s Scrutiny committee has limited the scope to properly scrutinise these proposals and ascertain their potential consequences.

 

4.       That this Council therefore calls on the CFA to:

 

a.       Withdraw the proposals as currently configured and explore alternatives including:

i.        Selling the half empty, unneeded and expensive £11 million Headquarters and seek permission from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to use the funds as a transformational budget to allow the Service to do much more collaborative working;

ii.        Exploring other sources of income, such as delivering services for the NHS while carrying out fire safety checks;

iii.       Sharing all support services with either the City or County Council or other Emergency Services.

 

b.       Acknowledge that cuts of this magnitude, taken together with planned housing growth and population increases in the sub region risks the Service being unable to provide a safe level of service;

 

c.       Make representations to Central Government so that it is aware of the potential consequences of its budget decisions.’ ”

 

On the motion being put and before the vote was taken, five members rose asking that a named vote be recorded.  The vote was recorded as follows:-

 

For the motion:

 

Mr Bill, Mr Boulter, Mr Bray, Mr Charlesworth, Mr Galton, Dr Hill, Mr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.