Dear Sir

At the Fire Authority meeting that took place last Thursday members were presented with a thin 8 page document that was its response to the 450 page public consultation. Whilst proposing what was on the face of it a series of sensible and agreeable key principles and outcome proposals, what the lack of detail masked is of very great concern to the Conservative Group members. 

Since later last year the Labour members have been suffering painful contractions after they tabled their radical proposals to the public. It was perhaps inexperience that had something to do with the proposals being tabled before discussing the detail with their own colleagues at County and City and in the FBU. They are of course guided by the requirement to save a further £4.4m but the proposals they put out to consultation were clearly at odds with their own principles. This saw leading Labour councillors protesting with the FBU against the proposals of their own colleagues. 

The public were right to be concerned at the proposals to close some fire stations over the course of the next 10 to 20 years, some of which are relatively newly built and to question the level of fire cover they could expect and so they made their feelings known. That is why we were surprised to see such an abbreviated document last week. 

As we explored the implications of this paper and as the debate developed our concerns grew. Whilst we have been given assurances that stations will not close in the first two years, until after Labour believe their new Government will be elected and save the day (at odds with the message coming from Ed Milliband), and that there will be no compulsory redundancies in that time, it raises the question of where and how will the savings accrue? Well, Council Tax rises and raids on the reserves seem to be answer. Leaving more savings to find over and above the £4.4m the Fire Authority needs to find. 

Because there is now no plan, only promises of a series of plans to come, means that the Fire Authority will bin a bid to access up to £30m of additional capital funding. We believe this will mean station closures by stealth, as has happened elsewhere. We are also concerned that in their haste to retreat from their own original plans Labour will erode the fire cover for Derbyshire residents. Perhaps to a level even worse than the worst case scenarios proposed in the original consultation. 

We abstained from voting on this paper because we have real concerns that these 'new plans' are not transparent and will reduce fire cover and public safety, cost the Fire Authority and the Tax Payer significantly more money and will result in fire stations being closed by stealth. 

Yours Faithfully 

Cllr Simon Spencer 

Leader of the Conservative Group, Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Authority