Memorandum by Ken Yeo, County Councillor
Perranporth Electoral Division,
Executive Member—Public Protection
(FRS 12)
As Portfolio Holder with responsibilities for
Cornwall County Fire Brigade I would offer the following submission
to the Select Committee examining the proposals for nine Regional
Fire Controls. I took responsibility for this Portfolio in May
of this year following the County Council Elections, I have spent
some time in listening and reading a great deal of literature
on the project and its objectives. I have attended a Stakeholder
meeting held at Taunton when elected Members and Chief Fire Officers
from the South West Region were given a presentation on the Project
prior to the announcement of the location.
There are a number of issues I would request
the Select Committee gives serious consideration to:
1. To what extent did the Team working on
this Project understand the operations of an operational Fire
Control and why, despite being invited to attend a number of Emergency
Controls, did it decline to do so? Many of the smaller Fire Controls
in predominantly rural authorities have operators with local knowledge
and expertise, much of which will not be transferable to a Regional
Control.
2. Is too much reliance being placed on untested
and single system technology such that even a short interruption
could have catastrophic consequences to the Region and public
involved in an incident where seconds are vital? There appears
to be no back up and total reliance that another Regional Control
would take over and manage.
3. Why does it appear that "Big is Beautiful"
is being pursued, a "One size fits all", when there
are many brigades with unique problems peculiar to their own Authority?
The population spread in Cornwall is completely different to that
in its only neighbouring County (Devon) and again both are different
but have some similarities to other rural counties and areas.
4. Is the real priority to provide a quality
service to the public in responding to life threatening and emergency
incidents and to have the capability to respond to national disasters
or the threat of terrorist attacks, which would have full support,
or the implementation of a concept that has ignored many concerns
and failed to give acceptable responses to specific brigade and
elected Member issues. Detailed future budget implications for
brigades have not been specified, putting Cornwall County Fire
Brigade in the position of having to consider cutting initiatives
that fully support the Government's agenda on public protection
issues.
5. Will the failure of the rural brigades
be lost in the overall figures that will give the public a false
sense of security rather than the reality that the Regional Control
concept will fail to provide the high quality of service that
they currently enjoy from their local Control.
6. The mobilising system proposed will have
significant implications for the rural areas because of the inability
to redirect a resource, because of this lives will be put at risk.
This will not present such a problem in large urban areas, where
fire cover is provided to a greater extent. This is just another
example of the failure of the "one size fits all" approach.
|
