The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has written to Buckinghamshire fire authority, formally objecting to proposals that would see the removal of seven retained fire engines and to close fire stations at Great Missenden and Stokenchurch.
The fire authority is scheduled to meet on Wednesday 12 November, to vote on whether to take the cuts to public consultation.
The union says that there is “no rationale” for shutting stations and cutting retained appliances, saying that communities should not be punished for fire service management failures.
The FBU has also written in objection to a proposal by the fire authority to confer wider “operational independence” on the chief fire officer.
The union raises the alarm that this would enable decisions, including the threatened reduction in fire cover, to be made “by an unelected officer without the level of democratic scrutiny, public visibility and consultation that the Authority has itself committed to in the current Community Risk Management Plan.”
Mitchell Wallace, FBU Brigade Secretary for Buckinghamshire said:
Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority must reject proposals to remove seven retained fire engines and to permanently close Great Missenden and Stokenchurch fire stations.
These cuts would slash frontline cover, bake in failing response times, and put both the public and firefighters at greater risk.
Included in the same proposal, fire authority members are being asked to back changes that could allow major alterations to fire cover without the same democratic oversight or level of public consultation that was previously promised. Decisions that impact community safety must stay open, transparent, and accountable.
Residents in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes deserve a fire and rescue service built around managing risk, not past demand. The fire authority should reject the proposal and protect local fire cover.”
Chris Wycherley, Executive Council Member for the Southern Region said:
Since 2010, Buckinghamshire has suffered the harshest percentage reduction in firefighter numbers of any area in the country — on top of a national loss of around 12,000 posts.
When you’re already operating on the thinnest margin, taking away retained appliances, closing stations or giving executives more freedom to cut without full public oversight isn’t efficiency, it’s a direct hit on public safety.
These plans would hard-wire an already unsafe level of resilience into the service and leave crews with even less capacity to deal with major or simultaneous incidents. Councillors should be demanding a plan to restore cover in Buckinghamshire — not signing off on measures that weaken it further.”
