Cheshire Fire Authority is inviting residents to have your say on their draft plans for 2017/18 which includes reviewing its staffing arrangements at Wilmslow Fire Station, although they insist they are committed to not making any redundancies.
The consultation on the draft Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), which includes a breakdown of how they propose to meet the estimated £3.8 million savings required up to 2021, is now underway and will last until Tuesday 3rd January 2017
Four years ago the Authority embarked on its first comprehensive Emergency Response Review to ensure it was able to respond to future demands.
This resulted in the implementation of a large programme of activity; including changes to the way some stations were staffed; a new 10 minute response standard; the introduction of 12 hour firefighter shifts and the building of new fire stations in Alsager, Penketh, Mollington as well as a fire station and safety centre at Lymm.
As this programme nears completion the Authority has undertaken a second Emergency Response Review.
Alex Waller, Head of Service Delivery said: "Our plan is simply to review the current crewing arrangements at Wilmslow Fire Station to ensure that it continues to be both efficient and cost effective. Cheshire Fire Authority remains committed to their stance of no firefighter redundancies.
"Our plans for the future are currently out for consultation and so anyone can share their views by logging on to www.cheshirefire.gov.uk."
Other proposals in the draft plan include increasing its share of council tax by 1.99% in 2017/18; reducing the number of hydraulic platforms from three to two; introducing an additional fire engine at Crewe and Ellesmere Port fire stations, staffed during weekdays and rolling out the pilot programme to respond to cardiac arrests alongside North West Ambulance Service.
Additionally they are proposing to deliver 'Safe and Well' visits to 40,000 households to provide health information as well as fire safety advice; develop a new policy to reduce the number of attendances to false alarms caused by automatic fire alarm systems and promote the need to install sprinkler systems in new schools.
More information along with the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP), the summary and the consultation survey can all be viewed on the are all on the Cheshire Fire Authority website.
