Cheshire Fire Authority agrees to end full time cover at Birchwood Fire Station (From This Is Cheshire)

Cheshire Fire Authority agrees to end full time cover at Birchwood Fire Station

11:21am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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KEEP Birchwood Wholetime supporters vowed ‘it’s not over’ after Cheshire Fire Authority approved plans to change Birchwood Fire Station to operating with retained firefighters at night.

Campaigners, councillors and firefighters presented a petition with 14, 434 signatures at the meeting on Wednesday at Cheshire Fire headquarters in Winsford opposing plans to introduce 12 hour shifts during the day.

Clr Russell Bowden, Birchwood town councillor, said: “It was obviously a done deal, there was no debate about the proposals.

“The public consultation has been a sham and we don’t understand how they can throw away 15,000 signatures.”

Clr Colin Oliver, (LD - Poulton North) a fire authority member, also added that he was not happy with the decision and that there was not enough information to close the station.

He said: "The only other station that has been affected is Wilmslow and it has not been long enough to build up an idea about how the station would work.”

Both councillors added that they will be requesting the decision be called in for scrutiny.

Campaigners believe the decision had been made long before the public consultations after it was announced last month that £800,000 worth of ‘efficiency savings’ had been made in the latest budget.

Lynne Greenhalgh, lead campaigner, said: “The draft budget clearly includes the savings created by the reduced cover at Birchwood.

“Am I alone in questioning how they can include in their budget savings from a reduction in service which was still subject to public consultation?”

Chief Fire Officer Paul Hancock strongly rejected claims that the decisions were a foregone conclusion.

He said: “Cheshire Fire Authority made the decision based on all of the evidence put before them at the meeting which includes feedback from residents.

“The efficiency savings that this proposal potentially provides have been factored into our budget as one of a number of anticipated savings, however, if these do not materialise funds will have to be found from elsewhere.”

In the consultation report anger was expressed from members of the public over the changes adding at least five minutes on to reponse times and that public consultations were held on weekday mid-afternoons.

Firefighters raised concerns that the move could deter women from joining the service and the 12 hour shifts were not ‘family friendly’ and could leave crews tired.

The station will be losing 12 wholetime firefighter positions but Cheshire Fire have promised there will be no redundancies.

Cheshire Fire chiefs said the changes were necessary because Birchwood is one of the quietest 24-hour fire stations in the county, risk levels are low and most incidents occur during the day.

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