Suffolk Fire Review

Yesterday I made a contribution to the debate about the future of the fireservice in Suffolk at the Cabinet meeting in Ipswich.

At Suffolk County Council Cabinet Meetings, although the decision is made by the Cabinet, any councillor can turn up and say their bit.  I wanted to make a comment about the very good consultation meeting that was held for the villages to the north of Sudbury at Great Waldingfield Village Hall during the consultation period.  The meeting was quite well attended and the residents who came were given a very comprehensive picture of what was proposed.  I came away from the meeting feeling that the consultation was being carried out in an honest and transparent way, and that people's views were noted.

So often consultations are something of a sham.  They are prescribed by legislation, so must take place, but often the decisions have already been taken.  This was not the case on this occasion.  As can be seen from the Cabinet paper, almost all of the original proposals were amended following consideration of the feedback from the public. This included a rethink on the decision to replace the second fire engine in Sudbury with a smaller, rapid response vehicle.

I am actually a bit disappointed by this, since it seemed to me that the RRV would be more flexible and speedy while retaining many of the features of the larger vehicle.  However, an RRV is to be commissioned elsewhere in the county and time will tell whether it proves its worth, particularly in rural areas.

Because its services deal with life and death situations, the Fire Service is something of a sacred cow, and an obvious area to make political noise.    My view is that this can be dangerous.  As times goes on circumstances do change, and no service should be exempt from review.  In this instant it is well documented that the number of call outs for the Fire Service have declined quite dramatically in recent years.  The use of smoke alarms have increased, and modern houses tend not to have as many fire incidents as older properties.

 It is therefore only right to review the configuration of the service, having due regard for risk, and this review lies behind the current proposals.