FINANCIAL pressures continue and the latest service to start a review of its delivery is the Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority.

A consultation is under way to look at reducing the capacity of the fire authority by as much as 25 per cent of the appliances across the two counties. In Wyre Forest, this means potentially going from four fire engines to three.

Currently, we have a fire station in Kidderminster with two appliances (one manned by a full-time crew; the second by a retained crew who can work elsewhere, but must be within six minutes of the fire station should they be called out), a fire station in Stourport with one retained crew fire engine, and a fire station in Bewdley with, again, one appliance with a retained crew.

The key component of all this is the full-time fire engine. It can get to a surprisingly large part of Wyre Forest in 10 minutes and this covers both Stourport and Bewdley.

What is being debated is the future of either the Kidderminster retained appliance or the Bewdley retained fire station. Kidderm-inster’s full-time engine is secure.

Already there is a campaign developing locally to save Bewdley’s fire station. I completely understand the motivation behind that campaign.

But what is crucial to me is the safety of everyone in Wyre Forest – not just Bewdley. The question for me is: can we in Wyre Forest be safe with three, not four, fire engines?

The fire authority will be making the case for their plans over the next few months and it is up to them to make the case for reduced fire engines across the entire two counties.

But what troubles me the most is that this will take them to the point where they are at the limit of what they consider to be safe.

Any fewer fire engines would, to their mind, increase unacceptable risk to the community.

Doubly worrying is the fact that they will still be hard pressed under any financial measure. It is one thing to be hard pressed on either appliances or money: it is another when they are hard pressed on both.

A couple of years ago all of us MPs who represent the area covered by the H&WFA lobbied, successfully, for more central government money. But we are still one of the worse per person funded fire authorities in the country.

That is why we will be going back to the minister to seek more funding so that the fire authority’s decision will be made on the basis of community safety and not simply on financial constraints.

CONTACT YOUR MP

  • Email: mark.garnier.mp@ parliament.uk
  • Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
  • Write: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London