Submitted by SWFBU on
A coalition of Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councillors have dealt the death blow to hopes that dangerous cuts in Gloucestershire Fire Service would not take place. The cabinet of Gloucestershire County Council had previously made a decision to remove all wholetime Fire Cover at Cirencester and close Painswick Fire Station, but this decision was then challenged by the Labour group in Gloucestershire.
Labour took the Cabinet’s decision to use a process called ‘call-in’ which is occasionally employed when it is felt a decision may have been wrongly reached – this meant that the Council’s decision to close Painswick fire station could be scrutinised after residents were given access to the consultation. The call-in argued that the Council used misleading figures around the amount of call outs that Painswick fire officers attended, and that the consultation used leading questions to get the answers they wanted.
FBU Regional Secretary Trevor French said “The consultation was totally misleading, and the figures relating to Painswick station incident turn outs in the consultation were wrong. There were two separate questions rolled into one question, and the service dismissed alternatives to the station closure with no explanation whatsoever - the phrase “professional judgement” is not an explanation.
“The FBU asked the public a straightforward question, ‘Do you think Painswick Fire station should close?’ and the response was a resounding no. The FBU will now be holding an Emergency Brigade Committee to discuss the closure of Painswick Fire Station and the underhand means by which it has been achieved.”
Barry Kirby, (L. Grange and Kingsway) who is the Labour shadow member for the Fire service, said that: “petty politics has got in the way of keeping a vital and much needed fire service open in Painswick. I have been overwhelmed by the support that residents and fire officers from across the County have shown by our move to scrutinise the Council’s decision. Ultimately though the Conservatives came into this meeting with a closed mind and pre-prepared speeches and were not prepared to listen to the views of residents and to the reasoned arguments of fact.
I took to the panel of Councillors reasoned and evidenced arguments based in fact, not politics. Unfortunately some members of the panel put their political ambitions above residents. It was especially telling that Tory Councillors presented political arguments and didn’t engage with the evidence.”
This means that the closure of Painswick station will go ahead, and the retained officers made redundant.
The notice of the call-in was posted last week, and since then almost all political parties have made their thoughts known, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Shire Hall, Jeremy Hilton had expressed his intention for his group to vote down Labour’s call-in before the arguments had been heard.
