Wrexham fire engine cuts back on table – campaigning councillor says move ‘will put lives at risk’

Plans to axe one of Wrexhams’s whole-time fire appliances, or changing the hours of the second wholetime fire appliance in Wrexham to cover daytime hours only, have been put forward again.

It is one of a number of proposals being put forward by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority as it looks to plug an expected £1.9m gap in next year’s budget.

A report by NWFRA’s Planning Working Group, which will be discussed at an executive panel meeting next Monday, outlines a series of options to help the authority plug the financial gap.

Local authorities in North Wales contribute to the majority of the fire services funding and in the past, the service has been able to avoid increasing contributions from councils by using its own reserves.

However the report due before panel members next week states that the running costs of North Wales Fire and Rescue Service are expected to jump from £34.1m this financial year to £35.3m in 2019/20.

There is also a warning that “reserves are now approaching the minimum considered prudent by the Treasurer’ and that the authority’s “financial sustainability depends now on securing an increase in the contributions made by the local authorities and/or achieving a permanent reduction in the running costs of the service without having to rely on unallocated reserves as a short-term solution to ensuring a balanced budget.”

Local authorities would need to increase funding anywhere from £180,360 to £398,160 depending on the authority and its size. Recent estimates show that for 2018/19 North Wales county councils will contribute around 2.5% of their total budget towards the cost of providing fire and rescue services in the area.

A list of possible cost saving options have now been drawn up and will be considered by the executive panel next week – with one such proposal including scrapping one of Wrexham’s whole-time fire appliances.

It is the second time such an proposal has been put forward, having been described as the “least worst option” during a report released by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority exactly two years ago in May 2016.

It was estimated at the time that scrapping the appliance and 24 firefighter jobs could save £900,000

The proposal was met with strong opposition by local residents, politicians and Wrexham Council – who announced that they “vehemently oppose” such plans.

However in March 2017 the authority announced they were to “withdraw” the proposal and a decision on future cuts until after the local government elections in May 2017

Another option put forward for consideration is changing the hours of the second whole-time fire appliance in Wrexham to cover daytime hours only and not overnight.

The options put forward by the authority have been criticised by Wrexham Cllr Marc Jones, who coordinated the campaign to save Wrexham’s fire engine two years ago

“The proposal to cut Wrexham’s second whole-time fire engine is still unacceptable and will put lives at risk,” said Cllr Jones.

“The crews at Wrexham regularly support other stations across North Wales and only last week were in Betws-y-Coed to ensure there was cover in the Conwy Valley.

“Losing 24 firefighters would increase the risk facing people in the largest town in north Wales and I would urge members of the Fire Authority to resist attempts to cut this service.

“The Fire Authority has already had more funding from the six councils across the North but it’s unlikely they will get more. Public services have faced cuts for a decade now and this is the result – we have to reject austerity because ultimately cuts cost lives.”

North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority say that in order to have a financial plan in place by April 2019/20 a period of consultation will have to take place with the public over the summer.