Fire chiefs slammed by union over secrecy around cutbacks

UNION officials have accused fire chiefs of a “blanket of silence” over controversial plans for a multi-million pound overhaul of emergency cover in a Yorkshire city.

A major public consultation had been due to begin yesterday on the 4.5m development scheme that includes proposals for a new fire station in York’s city centre.

However, managers at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service admitted yesterday that the consultation had been delayed because of “administrative issues”.

Senior officials from the Fire Brigades’ Union (FBU) claimed that they have not been kept fully briefed about the plans, prompting concerns over the full extent of the overhaul.

FBU brigade secretary for North Yorkshire, Ian Watkins, said: “This is a huge deal for York, and we are extremely worried about the impact that the restructuring of services will have.

“We obviously want to have an ongoing dialogue with the brigade’s management, so that we not only keep our members briefed, but also the wider public.

“But there appears to be a blanket of silence which is pervading the whole process. We were not aware that the consultation had been delayed and there are growing concerns that more details are being kept from us.”

Officers at the North Yorkshire brigade maintained an email had been sent to Mr Watkins earlier this month outlining a timescale for the consultation.

But it is understood that no correspondence has been sent explaining the delays.

A fire service spokesman added: “The proposed restructuring of the fire service in York is a massive undertaking, and we obviously want to make sure that the consultation is prepared correctly.

“As a result, the decision has been taken to push back the launch of the consultation due to administrative issues, although it will begin next week.

“We want to make sure that we engage with as many people as possible during the consultation and take on board all the views that are expressed.”

It emerged last week that fire chiefs at the North Yorkshire brigade are pushing ahead with the multi-million pound overhaul of emergency cover – despite not knowing the full extent of the Government's cutbacks in funding.

Fire chiefs admitted that they are expecting to have to slash budgets by up to 1m for each of the next four financial years to cope with a dramatic reduction in grants from Westminster.

Union officials claimed senior brigade officials are “living in a financial dream world” and questioned whether there will be adequate resources available to properly staff the new station.

Figures released by the FBU have estimated that the 4m in savings equates to the loss of about 140 firefighter posts, although fire chiefs stressed that the financial cutbacks would not be recouped from redundancies as operational savings would be made elsewhere.

The fire service already has plans approved to rebuild the existing fire station at Clifford Street, which has been deemed to be outdated.

But senior officers now hope to agree a deal for a site in Kent Street, near the Barbican theatre, that recently came onto the market.

Chief Fire Officer Nigel Hutchinson maintained that response rates to incidents in under five minutes will actually improve by more than six per cent under the overhaul of the city’s cover.

The Kent Street site is seen as ideally located to provide fire and rescue services to historic buildings in the city centre as well as to the south-east of York, which has seen major developments in recent years, such as the 500m expansion of York University’s campus.