Commissioner defends fire service changes decision
Zoe Metcalfe has pressed ahead with service reductions despite “overwhelming opposition” from the public.
Last updated 14th Oct 2022
Community leaders have questioned an elected commissioner’s mandate to introduce sweeping changes to the fire service, saying she has pressed ahead with service reductions despite “overwhelming opposition” from the public.
Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has told a meeting of North Yorkshire and York’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel replacing the Tactical Response fire engine at Harrogate and Scarborough with emergency rescue fire engines that would be crewed only during peak demand hours and changing Huntington to an on-call fire station was “a strategic decision”.
She said it had been found some areas lacked sufficient risk to warrant full-time firefighters.
Mrs Metcalfe told the committee after a 12-week public consultation over the level of firefighters staffing in which more than 1,400 people were engaged, she had considered all the feedback before making a decision.
She told the panel: “Overall, respondents supported the proposals, although there was no majority in favour of the Huntington proposal.
“Support was more finely balanced for the proposals which set out a change
to response resources at Huntington, Harrogate and Scarborough.”
Councillors told the commissioner they were disappointed she had decided to pursue the proposals, with one saying he had “lost count” over the number of residents who had been up in arms about them.
Councillor Darryl Smalley said since the commissioner had confirmed her decision last month many residents had “reached out to register their dismay that they don’t feel listened to”, despite having expressed strong views on the changes.
Panel member Martin Walker told the commissioner while North Yorkshire and York had “representation to direct democracy” a majority of City of York councillors had objected in the strongest possible terms to the alteration of Huntington station, which served both the city and rural areas in the county.
Dismissing the commissioner’s claims that reaction to the proposal had been finely balanced, he said the opposition to the service changes had been “overwhelming” and that it was concerning she and the chief fire officer had not responded to residents’ wishes.
He said: “The on-call model cannot be as efficient as the one that is being taken away.”
Chief fire officer Jonathan Dyson replied that on-call firefighters were exactly the same as full-time firefighters and that the public would not be made safer by the attendance of a fire engine when an incident has happened.
Mrs Metcalfe added the consultation had generated a “marginal not overwhelming” results and highlighted that some residents and firefighters supported the decision.
She said the depth of the risk analysis that had been undertaken was unprecedented in North Yorkshire and that there were two other fire stations in York, which would work as a team with on-call colleagues at Huntington.
Mrs Metcalfe said: “We are putting in whole time firefighters into Huntington to make sure the response times are quick until we get the on-call.
“I based this on a strategic direction. My role is to be a strategic leader and make sure the service is fit for the future, whether it is five, ten, 15 years. These decisions are based on evidence and data for the last five years. It’s been dictated by community risk profile.”