Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will continue to force through his closure of both Westminster and Knightsbridge fire stations. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) will meet next week to vote on the Mayor’s plans. The documents for that meeting – which were published this afternoon – show the Mayor has backed down on the closure of Clapham and New Cross Fire Stations. However, he will continue to try and force the rest of fire cuts through.

The Mayor wanted to close 12 fire stations, cut 18 fire engines and axe 520 firefighters. The updated plans released today show that Clapham will stay open, but will lose one of its two fire engines; Chelsea Fire Station will keep both of its fire engines; East Greenwich Fire Station will receive a second fire engine; and New Cross Fire Station will remain. This now means that 10 fire stations will still close with the total loss of 14 fire engines.

The stations that are now planned to close are Belsize, Bow, Clerkenwell, Downham, Kingsland, Knightsbridge, Silvertown, Southwark, Westminster and Woolwich.

The stations that will still lose a fire engine are: Chingford, Hayes, Leyton, Leytonstone, Peckham and Whitechapel.

London wide Labour Assembly Member Murad Qureshi AM, said:

 “At the public meeting in Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster on the 10^th and 11 of June respectively, residents spoke with one voice against the closure of Westminster and Knightsbridge fire stations. Boris has not listened to residents and is going ahead with his ill-thought out plan.  

“Public meetings have shown that Londoners are fearful for the safety of the areas where they live and work. They are understandably worried about injuries and fatalities from fire. I am deeply disappointed that Boris has failed to protect London’s fire brigade by scrapping his plans. He has let Londoners down with his plan to close 10 fire stations and axe 14 fire engines, after all this is about the protection of the whole of London.” 

“We all know that savings have to be made, but the London Fire Brigade has already saved £66million from the back office. Boris is cutting too far and all to fund his penny a day council tax cut. What would you prefer a penny a day or a fully funded fire service that can respond to incidents more quickly?”