Fire Brigades Union Officials are dismayed that Cabinet Member for Fire and Community Safety, Councillor Barry Abraham, will be making a decision on the transfer of the Island’s emergency fire control to Surrey Fire and Rescue Service today without taking up the offer of a briefing from the Fire Brigades Union about their significant concerns.
An invite to Councillor Barry Abraham was made by IOW FBU Officials last week and was repeated during the Ian Mac show on Vectis Radio but has not been responded to.
Pete Mawhood, IOW FBU Chair, said “Regrettably Councillor Abraham has failed to respond and once again we extend the invite to him and any other Councillors who wish to be briefed about our concerns. We are extremely disappointed that such a critical decision will be made without input from our members”.
During the past 24 hours Cllr. Abraham received the current 1,800 plus signatories of the ongoing petition to ‘Save the isle of Wight Fire Control Centre’, including 100 plus signatories from serving Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service firefighters (wholetime, retained and control), officers and civilian staff.
Paul Watts, FBU Regional Control Rep, said ‘This reflects the deeply held concerns within the IOW Fire Service at the prospect of the moving the Fire Control to the mainland and FBU members are strongly opposed to the plan. They have not had the opportunity to formally comment on the proposals nor have their views been sought by senior managers or the IOW Council’.
He added ‘The loss of vital local knowledge could mean a delay to the mobilisation of fire appliances in response to emergencies. It goes without saying that any delay due to uncertainty could, in a critical situation, have life-threatening consequences’.
Ends
Notes for Editors:
The Isle of Wight Council are proposing to close the Isle of Wight Fire Control Centre in Newport, Isle of Wight, with the calls answered by the Surrey Fire and Rescue Service Control (Reigate, Surrey).
Councillors were only given twenty-four hours notice of the additional items on the agenda for the Full Council meeting, including the issue of the Island’s Fire Control Centre back in September 2010.
The Outline Business Case (September 2010) and Full Business Case (March 2011) were published and no consultation with island residents or businesses has taken place.
The latest delegated decision report (published Friday 15 April 2011) states that the cutover date for transfer to Fire Control Centre in Reigate, Surrey is 30 September 2011. The publication gave ten days for Councillors to comment, however, with two weekends and two bank holidays there are only 4 working days to comment in reality.
Fire Service Modernisation debated by the Economy and Environment Scrutiny Panel, 27 April 2011:
Revised date for cutover August 2011. Permanent transfer September 2011
April media interview with the FBU:
http://ianmacphonein.podomatic.com/entry/2011-04-21T11_39_33-07_00
http://www.iwradio.co.uk/newscentre/iw-radio-news/heat-rises-over-999-fire-calls-move-2296
The ongoing petition ‘Save the Isle of Wight Fire Control Centre’ has reached 1830 signatories as at 27 April 2011; the petition was delivered to Cllr Barry Abraham and to Democratic Services, I.W. Council, County Hall, Newport. Isle of Wight within the past 24 hours.
Delegated decision by Cllr Barry Abraham, Cabinet Member for Fire & Community Safety, expected on 28 April 2011.
Related links
http://www.facebook.com/fbufirewontwait
Document downloads:
Delegated Decision Fire Control – PDF
APPENDIX A – Delegated Decision Fire Control PDF
APPENDIX B – Delegated Decision Fire Control PDF
Paper B – Delegated Decision Fire Control PDF
FBU fire wont wait a5 flyer 042011s as a PDF (1.5MB)
Letter to Cllr Barry Abraham from FBU 27 April 2011 as a PDF
Related posts:
- Press Release: FBU CONDEMN RELEASE OF DELEGATED DECISION REPORT ON ISLAND’S FIRE CONTROL BEING OUTSOURCED TO SURREY FIRE SERVICE
- Press Release: 22 December 2010: RCC’s (FiReControl) Project Cancelled
- Fire Bridades Union concerned about merger of Isle of Wight Fire Control Centre to Surrey
- Press release: Secret costs of closing Isle of Wight emergency 999
- Isle of Wight Council Leader, David Pugh and Chief Executive, Steve Beynon receive No Confidence vote by Unison members