Inverclyde SNP group raise grave concerns about fire cuts

Members of the local authority's SNP team have written to their Holyrood bosses to request a review on funding for the fire service – which is required to make £11m of savings this year.

Greenock stands to lose at least 10 firefighter posts under the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s controversial plans, with the crewing model for the station’s high-reach vehicle also being changed.

In their letter, the SNP group have also told Scottish Government’s Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown that firefighter in Inverclyde feel ‘completely left out’ of their bosses’ decision-making process.

The SNP councillors told the Telegraph they want assurances from fire service bosses that any additional funds given to them will be used to reverse the proposed changes in Inverclyde.

Councillor James Daisley said: “We understand that the Scottish Government’s hands are tied when it comes to funding because of the reckless decisions that have been made by the UK Government at Westminster, but we think it’s still important to reach out and ask for dialogue between us both.

“We wanted to make the minister aware that firefighters in Inverclyde feel like they’re not being listened to.

“They feel like they’ve been completely left out of this process and they’re the experts.

“The biggest concern for me is that they feel that way.”

Fire service chiefs were grilled about the cuts by councillors at an emergency meeting of the local authority’s police and fire scrutiny panel last month.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union also gathered outside the council buildings to protest the cuts, which they say will put public and firefighter safety at risk.

Councillor Daisley said: “It seems like the national fire chiefs have got a hell of a lot of explaining to do about why they want to impact Inverclyde in such a negative way.

“We’ve been also told the changes in the service were always planned even without the budget cuts.

“If more money comes from the Scottish Government, we need assurances that this will be reversed.

“It seems to be that the money from the Scottish Government could be being used as a smokescreen for blame, if they were going to make these changes anyway then how is it right that they’re blaming the Scottish Government?”

Mr Daisley’s SNP colleague, Gourock representative Sandra Reynolds, said she was concerned about the impact the proposed changes could have on the amount of preventative work done locally.

She said: “At the last meeting the fire service said that operationally this is a very quiet station, but we’ve been told how important preventative work is and how much time the firemen spend on it.

“We want it to be quiet here and with the cuts in the crew the staff have got to do exactly the same amount of preventative and educational work with much fewer staff.

“They said the preventative work isn’t allowed to go, which means it’ll be more of a burden on the staff.

“This means that the operational work will suffer."

Her sentiments were echoed by fellow SNP politician John Crowther, who said Inverclyde was being ‘short-changed’ by the proposals and urged union and service bosses to come together to find a solution.

In response to the concerns raised by councillors, assistant chief officer David Farries, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service's Director of Service Delivery, said: “We have reviewed our resources and people to ensure they are best placed to protect communities across Scotland.

“We are reducing our fleet of vehicles that can operate at height on a phased basis from 26 to 16, taking ageing vehicles off the run and redeploying or introducing a series of modern, specialist vehicles dedicated specifically to dealing with such incidents.

“This decision is aligned to our ten-year operational strategy and based on robust data which tells us how busy these appliances are and the types of incidents we attend.

“Various factors have been considered in terms of population and matching resources to the risk and demand that exists within our communities. These national assets will be strategically placed to provide appropriate coverage.”

ACO Farries added: “As a national Service we have flexibility to operate as a network which means his means we can strategically place appliances and personnel from stations wherever they may be required. This includes wholetime and on call duty systems. We always maintain fire cover.”