“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
Minutes:
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 Hunt, Mr Kaufman, Mrs Loydall,
Mr Miah, Mr Mullaney, Mr Sharp, Mr Sheahan, Mr Sprason,
Mr Welsh, Mr Wyatt, Mr Yates.
Against the motion:
Mr Bentley, Mr Blunt, Mrs Camamile, Mr Coxon,
Mrs Dickinson, Dr Feltham, Mr Hampson, Mr Hart, Mr Houseman, Mr Jennings, Mr
Kershaw, Mr Lewis, Mr Liquorish, Mr Orson, Mr Osborne, Mr O’Shea, Mr Ould, Mrs
Page, Mr Pain, Mr Pearson, Mr Pendleton, Mrs Radford, Mr Rhodes, Mrs Richards,
Mr Rushton, Mr Snartt, Mr White.
The motion was put and not carried, 17
members voting for the motion and 27 against.
An amendment was moved by Mr Rushton and
seconded by Mr Hart:-
“That the motion be amended to read as follows:
‘1. That this Council notes:-
a) that the proposals now put forward are
part of a package of measures which go part way to address the significant
shortfall in the CFA budget and would still leave the CFA having to find
additional savings of £1.3million by 2020 to achieve a balanced budget;
b) that the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue
Service has only recently launched its consultation proposals and the following
public engagement events have been scheduled to explain its proposals and to
hear views:-
· Friday 2 October
7.45pm Central Fire Station
· Saturday 3 October
10.00am Coalville Fire Station
· Saturday 3 October
2.00pm Loughborough Fire Station
· Tuesday 6 October
7.45pm Billesdon Fire Station
· Thursday 8 October
7.45pm Hinckley Fire Station
· Friday 9 October
7.45pm Market Harborough Fire Station
· Tuesday 13 October
7.45pm Lutterworth Fire Station
· Thursday 15
October 7.45pm Kibworth Fire Station
· Friday 16 October
7.45pm Melton Mowbray Fire Station
· Friday 16 October
7.45pm Wigston Fire Station;
c) that
arrangements have been made for the Chief Fire Officer to brief all members of
the County Council on the proposals at a meeting on Monday 2nd November;
d) that the
consultation period runs until Friday 4th December, 2015.
2. Accordingly, this
Council:-
a) is of the view that the consultation
proposals should be considered by the Scrutiny Commission in the first instance
with a view to the Commission submitting its comments to the Cabinet meeting on
18th November so that a properly considered response can be debated at the
County Council on 2nd December;
b) believes that
the calling of an extraordinary meeting of the County Council was unnecessary
and deplores the action of the Liberal Democrat Group which has resulted in a
waste of taxpayers’ money.’ ”
The amendment was put and carried, 28 members
voting for the amendment and 17 against.
On the substantive 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 Bentley, Mr Blunt, Mrs Camamile, Mr Coxon,
Mrs Dickinson, Dr Feltham, Mr Hampson, Mr Hart, Mr Houseman, Mr Jennings, Mr
Kershaw, Mr Lewis, Mr Liquorish, Mr Orson, Mr Osborne, Mr O’Shea, Mr Ould, Mrs
Page, Mr Pain, Mr Pearson, Mr Pendleton, Mrs Posnett, Mrs Radford, Mr Rhodes,
Mrs Richards, Mr Rushton, Mr Snartt, Mr White.
Against the motion:
Mr Bill, Mr Boulter, Mr Bray, Mr
Charlesworth, Mr Galton, Dr Hill, Mr Hunt, Mr Kaufman, Mrs Loydall,
Mr Miah, Mr Mullaney, Mr Sharp, Mr Sheahan, Mr
Sprason, Mr Welsh, Mr Wyatt, Mr Yates.
The substantive motion was put and carried,
28 members voting for the motion and 17 against.