Pressure grows on fire chiefs to rethink overhaul of city service

Proposals have been drawn up for the biggest overhaul of the city's fire cover in more than a decade, and a crunch meeting will be held next month to decide whether the blueprints should be pursued.

Senior officials from leading organisations, including York Civic Trust and Age Concern, have now written to managers at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to urge them to re-consider the plans.

The brigade already has 4.9m plans approved to rebuild the existing fire station at Clifford Street, which has been deemed to be outdated.

But senior fire officers now hope to agree a deal for a one-acre site in Kent Street, near the Barbican theatre, to build a new station there under revised 3.8m plans.

The new proposals would see one of the two appliances currently based at Clifford Street moved to Huntington station, along with the aerial ladder platform.

The civic trust's director, Peter Brown, claimed a computer modelling system used to draw up the restructuring is of "limited use".

He maintained that it fails to take into account population densities and ignored other key factors – such as the types of buildings most at risk.

Mr Brown said: "I am concerned that the restructuring of fire cover will affect response times, which are all the more important in a medieval city like York.

"Every effort should be made to preserve York's historic buildings and heritage, which define the city. To make any reduction in the city centre's fire cover is an argument that simply cannot be made."

Concerns have been expressed by Age Concern that pensioners could be put at risk in York, which has already seen significant shift to a more elderly population. There are already 33,000 people aged 65 and over living in the city, and the figure is expected to have risen to 40,700 by 2020 – equating to more than 18 per cent of the population.

Age Concern York has mounted a successful campaign to reduce fire risks in the homes of the elderly.

However, it is feared that a restructuring of the city's fire cover will place the most vulnerable members of society at greater risk.

Age Concern York's deputy chief officer, James Player, admitted the charity is "seriously alarmed" at the proposals to shift an appliance from the city centre to Huntington. He said: "We have sought reassurances that any restructuring of fire cover will not affect response times. Any addition to the length of time it takes to respond to emergencies could place elderly people – or indeed any resident of the city – at greater risk."

The restructuring plans have been drawn up as the brigade is having to slash budgets by up to 4m over the next four financial years to cope with a dramatic reduction in grants from the Government.

But fire chiefs 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.

A public consultation on the proposals came to an end yesterday and generated nearly 50 responses, many of which included multiple signatures.

The brigade's head of service development, Owen Hayward, said: "We have listened to the views which have been expressed, and we will take them on board before any decision is reached."

He added: "We are currently finalising a series of options which will be presented to the fire authority, which will make a decision next month."

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority will meet on February 9 at Easingwold to decide on the fire cover restructuring.