Agenda item

The Board received a presentation from Mr Alex Waller, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service which:-

 

·             Outlined the budget for 2012-13 of £44.1m which would be utilised as follows; Premises £1.9m; Transport £1.4m; Supplies and Services £4.1m; Capital Charges £0.9m, Employee related £33.7m 76% and Other Costs £2.1m;

 

·             Set out the supply and demand of the service from 2004/5 to    2011/12 – the total number of incidents had reduced by 41.3%; fire fighters had been reduced by 1.3% and operational response resources had increased by 21.2%;

 

·          Detailed the life risk incidents attended per week in 2011/12;

 

·          Explained the concept of the 10 minute standard;

 

·          Outlined the current station locations and crewing type;

 

·          Highlighted the potential station locations and crewing type;

 

·          Detailed the proposals for response standards and station

                 locations;

 

·          Gave a summary of the presentation; and

 

·          Set out the consultation timetable.

 

The Board was advised that there were 24 stations in Cheshire and the proposals were to increase the number of stations to 29, with a mixture of full time and on call fire fighters.  It was reported that the proposals resulted in a saving of £650,000 whilst maintaining similar capacity and improving the response time.

 

The following comments arose from the presentation:-

 

·       It was noted that the proposals would not reduce the capacity to undertake and maintain community safety work;

 

·       It was noted that good practice was shared with other brigades and that the proposals did not reduce the level of service to the public or present any safety issues;

 

·       Clarity was sought on what the impact of taking a pump out of Widnes and placing it in Penketh would have on a major incident.  In response, it was reported that Chief Fire Officers from neighbouring brigades met on a regular basis to support each other.  Solid agreements were in place and if a major incident occurred, all neighbouring brigades would respond;

 

·       It was noted that subject to the spending review, it was hoped that there would be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the proposals.  However, it was also noted that the Service were committed to avoid redundancies;

 

·       It was noted that under the proposals there would be a fire engine available at least 95% of the time as the first response.  It was also noted that they wanted to achieve a 10 minute response time;

 

·       It was noted that most of the personal reported incidents occurred in the early evening on a Saturday and Sunday and many were related to alcohol;

 

·       It was noted that the cost of a new station was £2m and as a result of the previous spending settlement and a series of organisational changes throughout the Servcie, the Fire Authority had achieved a saving which was hoped could be used to purchase land and build new stations;

 

·       It was noted that the Fire Authority no longer owned housing stock and on call fire fighters would be required to live within five minutes of the station in order to meet the response time.  It was also noted that the wages of the on-call contract would increase in order to cover any removal expenses;

 

·       The Board noted the proposals for Runcorn as set out on Page 17 of the report; and

 

·       It was noted that Warrington and Halton had a high number of arson incidents but the number of life risk incidents was relatively low at less than one a day.

 

The Chairman reported that the Council would be formally responding to the consultation and that Members could also respond to the consultation individually.

 

In conclusion, the Chairman reported that the Board would consider a further report on the outcome of the proposals at the 12 March 2013 meeting.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)        The presentation be received and comments made noted;

 

(2)        Mr Waller and Mr O’Rourke be thanked for their informative presentation; and

 

(3)        An update report be presented to the 12 March 2013 meeting of the Board.