Shake-up of city’s fire cover
The results of a 12-week consultation on changes to the way fire cover is provided across Norwich go before councillors next week.
A petition with nearly 2000 signatures led by the Fire Brigade’s Union objects to the changes. Over 20 firefighters could lose their jobs, when Bethel Street closes.
At the same time, ambitious plans have been drawn up to convert the city centre fire station.
Under the proposals, just one crew will move to Carrow Fire Station, near Trowse, when Bethel Street closes next spring. Two crews are currently stationed at Bethel Street, leading to the loss of a possible 24 firefighter posts. It will leave the city with 4 fire crews in total, instead of the current 5.
The changes are part of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Authority’s Draft Safety Plan for 2011/14. As reported previously by South Norwich News, the Fire Brigade’s Union see these proposals as “drastic cuts”, which will put the public and fire service at greater risk. But the Chief Fire Officer, Nigel Williams in the report states: “The Service would emphasise that public and firefighter safety are its primary concern and does not believe that the changes proposed involve an unacceptable impact on either priority.”
Asked how these changes might effect response times to a major incident, such as the library fire in 1994, Dave McMahon, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, said: “In the event of a major incident such as something on the scale of the Norwich library fire we would be drawing on resources from a wide area and not just from within the Norwich area. There would also be no guarantee that the Norwich fire engines would be at their stations when such an incident happened. In fact when the library fire occurred several fire engines from Bethel Street were dealing with a road traffic collision elsewhere in the city.”
Nearly 200 people attended the public consultations and over 70 meetings have been held with staff and unions. Feedback from the public has helped shape the report, due before the Fire and Rescue Overview and Scrutiny Panel next week (Tuesday September 7), according to Norfolk County Council.
Harry Humphrey, Cabinet Member for Fire and Community Protection at Norfolk County Council, said: “This was the most comprehensive consultation the fire and rescue authority has ever carried out, and has also been its most successful in terms of the level of responses received.”
Plans to convert Bethel Street fire station into a mixture of residential, retail and office use went before planners last week. Some wanted to see the Grade II listed building adapted for use as a concert hall or gallery. The East Anglian Art Fund objected to the scheme, saying the long term future of such a landmark building should be subject to wide public consultation. Despite the objections raised, the plans were given the go ahead by the city council.
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