Union in 11th-hour call for fire service shake-up to be blocked

Controversial proposals have been drawn up for the most extensive overhaul of York’s emergency cover in more than a decade as the North Yorkshire brigade looks to build a new multi-million pound base to cover the city centre.

Councillors will meet on Thursday to decide whether planning permission should be granted for the new station to be built in Kent Street.

York Council’s planning officers have recommended that the planning application should be approved, more than 18 months after managers at the North Yorkshire brigade unveiled the proposed shake-up.

But senior officials in the Fire Brigades Union maintained the plans to build the new base to replace an existing station in Clifford Street should not be pursued while the service is battling major financial pressures.

The chairman of the FBU’s North Yorkshire branch, Steve Howley, said: “This is such a big decision for the whole city. The restructuring will affect in the region of 90,000 residents in the city, and there are very real concerns that it will not provide the same level of fire cover as now.

“The new fire station is being proposed at a time when we are faced with making major savings in the brigade and there is a recruitment freeze on.

“While it is recommended that planning permission should be granted, we would urge councillors to take a very close look at what is being proposed.

“It is not too late to turn down the application.”

Leading organisations, including York Civic Trust and Age Concern, have already written to managers at North Yorkshire brigade to urge them to re-consider the plans.

The civic trust’s director, Peter Brown, claimed a computer modelling system used to draw up the restructuring was of “limited use”, and raised concerns about whether York’s medieval buildings would be afforded adequate protection.

York Central Labour MP Hugh Bayley met North Yorkshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Nigel Hutchinson, in December to discuss the proposals over fears that cover could be reduced.

Mr Hutchinson has maintained that response rates to incidents in under five minutes will actually improve by more than six per cent under the overhaul of the city’s cover.

The Kent Street site is seen as ideally located to provide fire and rescue services to historic buildings in the city centre as well as to the south-east of York, which has seen major developments in recent years.

Fire chiefs have already pushed ahead with plans to move one of two appliances from Clifford Street to a new base on the outskirts of the city.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority agreed in June to move one of two appliances currently based at Clifford Street to Huntington station along with the aerial ladder platform, with just one appliance left in the city centre at the proposed station on Kent Street. As part of the plans, two fire engines and the incident response unit will also be located at Acomb.

A spokeswoman for York Council confirmed that the planning application will be discussed by members of the east area planning sub-committee on Thursday.

The application is for outline planning permission to build a two-storey fire station, which is expected to cost in the region of £4m. While officers have recommended the plans for approval, they have stipulated that an agreement needs to be reached for archaeological studies to be carried out before construction work can begin.

The council spokeswoman stressed every application is considered “on its own merits” before a decision is reached by councillors.

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