Fire Service Review Plans Delayed.

It looks as though the County Council have delayed the review of the Fire and Rescue Service. In spite of calls for clarification from our Lib-Dem councilors no indication has been given by the ruling
Conservatives as to when plans would be brought back to the Council.

Now the cynical amongst us might conclude that plans will be delayed until after the General Election, as the Tory councils plans have been very unpopular with the Tory MPs and Candidates and they have been doing everything they can to distance themselves from it.

We will just have to see.

Finally the Council Fire Service documents are made public!

Following sustained pressure from the Liberal Democrats success was achieved today, with the posting on the Warwickshire web site of the Cabinet report and two background reports.

At the Warwick consultation we were told our response must be based on fact rather than emotion and yet the Conservative cabinet were withholding this very information. Too much of the information has had to dragged out by requests from the Lib Dems.

You can find a link to these documents on the Local Lib Dem website.

Will Tory cost cutting put our Fire Service at Risk?

The review of the Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service commissioned by Warwickshire County Council was discussed on Thursday by the ruling Conservative group and proposals are expected to be put forward to the council later in the year.

There are various options put forward in the report including merging or collaborating with fire services in a neighbouring county, consolidation of existing fire stations or a mixture of all three.

It is clear from the report that the motive is to save money and this is likely to result in less fire engines, less firemen and less stations. I will be watching this closely along with my colleagues who sit on the county council.

What I find ironic is that the same week local Tories were lambasted in the news for scaremongering (again) over the future of Warwick Hospital, they are considering closing the fire station.