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Engines saved but station cuts still in fire plan

Martin HeathBuckinghamshire political reporter
Roger Perry Red and yellow fire engine with bucksfire.gov.uk on the front in white lettering. There are engines behind and to the right of the one in the foreground. There is red and white emergency tape in the foreground. A building that has been damaged by fire is behind the engines.Roger Perry
The cuts are being proposed at Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service

Plans to remove fire engines from a county's fire stations have been scaled down.

However, proposals to close two fire stations in Buckinghamshire are still on the table.

Conservative councillors say the county's fire authority has "seen sense" and "backtracked".

The Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority, which makes decisions on finances and resources, has been approached for a response.

When proposals to shut fire stations at Stokenchurch and Great Missenden first surfaced, the fire authority said those measures came out of "an internal workshop where ideas were discussed".

The service added that the proposals were not supposed to be released to the public as they stood.

The latest version of the cuts proposals has now been published.

Martin Heath/BBC Single-storey brick-built fire station, with light red steel and glass doors across the whole of the front facade. There is a pitched roof with aerials mounted on it. There is a block-paved drive at the front criss-crossed with yellow paint. There is a yellow skip to the right for donated clothing, and houses on the left and right sides of the fire station site.Martin Heath/BBC
The closure of Stokenchurch fire station, which has no crew, is being proposed

The plans relate to the on-call fire service, crewed by retained firefighters who have other jobs but are called in when needed.

The original proposals included two options.

Option one:

  • Close Great Missenden and Stokenchurch fire stations
  • Remove the single fire engine at Haddenham
  • Remove one of the two engines at Beaconsfield, Amersham and Buckingham
  • Remove one engine from High Wycombe and West Ashland

Option two:

  • No station closures
  • Remove one engine at Amersham, Aylesbury, Beaconsfield, Broughton, Buckingham and High Wycombe
  • Remove two engines from West Ashland
Martin Heath/BBC Single-storey white-painted building with red-framed window and doors to the right and two-storey white-painted building with red-framed windows and a flat roof to the left. There is a wooden fence near the camera and a yellow clothing bank skip to the left.Martin Heath/BBC
The plan to remove Haddenham's only fire engine has been dropped

One option will now be presented to the fire authority when it meets on 12 November:

  • Close Stokenchurch and Great Missenden fire stations
  • Replace the on-call fire engines at Buckingham and Amersham with rural firefighting vehicles
  • Replace the on-call fire engine at Beaconsfield with a crew welfare vehicle
  • Scrap one West Ashland on-call fire engine and the on-call appliance at High Wycombe
Google Two and three-storey brick-built fire station building with full-length red doors to the right, behind which the fire engines are parked. The first floor has a brick exterior and a row of white-framed windows. The two-storey section to the left has white-framed windows on the upper floor and red-framed windows below. There is a road in the foreground with one black car on it.Google
High Wycombe fire station could lose its on-call fire engine

The report on the proposals that members of the authority have now received says that Great Missenden and Stokenchurch fire stations have "not had a crew for many years" and closing the sites would "avoid significant investment costs".

While firefighters were seldom available to crew Haddenham's on-call appliance and attended only one incident last year, there were "concerns about resilience if it were removed".

Johnny Luk Shazna Muzammil with long dark hair and two large silver earrings smiling at the camera and wearing a pink and white top. The background is blurred but appears to be a shop front with notices attached.Johnny Luk
The leader of the Milton Keynes City Council's Conservative group, Shazna Muzammil said the authority's original proposals had been "hastily changed"

The Conservative group on Milton Keynes City Council said the fire authority had "hastily changed their proposals".

Their leader, Shazna Muzammil, said: "Whilst I am glad they have now decided to keep the same level of capacity at Broughton, they are still intending to reduce the services at West Ashland.

"We will continue to oppose this short-sighted motion."

The authority will decide on 12 November whether to launch a 10-week public consultation on the proposals.

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