Last Thursday, the Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority committee voted to consult the public on a radical set of proposals to transform the way the Fire and Rescue Service is delivered in Derbyshire.  The minority Conservative Group consisting of just four members from the County and the City of Derby negotiated a key concession to ensure that the consultation included looking at options to merge Fire Authorities, and to work more collaboratively across borders to achieve savings in shared services and management.  

Cllr Simon Spencer, Leader of the opposition Fire & Rescue Authority members said,

"This concession is critical.  It is only right that when we go to the public to consult on these radical plans to deliver the fire service in a new and progressive way that we show the public that we are looking at ALL options, including doing radical things with the Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) itself.  It could not be right that the FRA would be immune to change when the service faces such a shake-up."

The Conservative Group support the consultation process that the FRA is undertaking and want to see Derbyshire's communities engage with this and give their views.  We urge the people of Derbyshire and Derby to give their views when the consultation opens in early October.  

Derby City Conservative Cllr Saadia Davis, added, 

"Make no mistake these are very radical ideas.  They include some contentious proposals to reduce the number of fire stations and propose building new ones in different places.  Fundamentally, this is about delivering a new service that meets the needs of Derby and Derbyshire's populations today - not of the 1950s when the current spread of stations was devised."

Discussion on the proposed consultation took more than 2 hours and included heated exchanges between Conservatives and Labour about the requirement for including the FRA in the proposals.  The suggestions were supported by the two Liberal Democrat members.

 Cllr Barry Lewis said, 

 "The concession was important to ensure that were considering all the options for efficiency, savings and delivering a high quality service that kept the people of the County and City safe.  Labours fundamental opposition seemed to be one about ideology and maintaining the status quo.  This is about doing the right thing and being part of the radical changes.  I think we had to be bigger than that and I'm glad Labour agreed in the end."