Public meetings for fire service cuts in London

The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority is holding two public consultations in Kensington and Westminster next week to discuss proposal to close Knightsbridge and 11 other fire stations, cut 18 fire engines and lose 520 firefighters. The public meetings are taking place on 10 June in Kensington and 11 June in Westminster and London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi is urging residents to attend.

The Draft Fifth London Safety Plan was launched at the beginning of March. Residents can also contribute to the consultation through the Fire Authority website, where more details are available: http://london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5 until 17 June.

The London Fire Brigade released details recently of increased response times for local wards in London. The statistics reveal that 41 local wards in London will now fall outside of the target response time, due to the Mayor’s decision to cut 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighters. The wards include Brompton in Kensington & Chelsea which will see an increase from 4.37mins to 6.27mins – an increase of 1.50mins.

Westminster will see increases in response times in Abbey Road (5.58 – 6.36) 38secs increase; Churchill (5.27-6.51) 1.24mins increase; Tachbrook (4.29-6.33) 2.04mins increase; Vincent Square (3.54-6.14) 2.20mins increase; Warwick (4.34-7.16) 2.42mins increase; and West End (5.44-6.16) 32secs increase.

Labour London wide Assembly Member Murad Qureshi said:

“It is vital that residents take part in this consultation about the proposal to close Knightsbridge fire station in Kensington and Chelsea, which will affect response times in much of central London and make sure that their voice is heard. We believe that the Mayor is cutting too far, too fast and is hitting the frontline.

“The increases in response times show how flawed the Mayor’s Draft Fire Plan is.  The borough response times in the London Safety Plan hide these ward increases, which are disgraceful. These figures clearly show that the Mayor has been misleading Londoners, his cuts will mean that people across our city will have to wait significantly longer for a fire engine to arrive in the event of an emergency.

“We are deeply concerned that the cuts will jeopardise the safety and security of Londoners, all for the dubious benefit of a penny a day off the Council Tax. But we want to hear from Londoners about their views during this consultation and what they think. I strongly urge residents to attend the meetings and I look forward to seeing them there.”

Ends

Notes

1. Murad Qureshi is a London wide Assembly Member.
2. The consultation on the Draft Fifth London Safety Plan ends at 5pm on 17 June 2013. Members of the public can have their say by visiting www.london-fire.gov.uk/lsp5, calling 0800 9888 569, by writing to the London Fire Brigade at 169 Union Street, London, SE1 0LL or by attending public meetings in London Boroughs, details of which will soon be available.
3. The fire stations listed for closure are: Belsize in Camden; Bow in Tower Hamlets; Clapham in Lambeth; Clerkenwell in Islington; Downham in Lewisham; Kingsland in Hackney; Knightsbridge in Kensington & Chelsea; New Cross in Lewisham; Silvertown in Newham; Southwark; Westminster; and Woolwich in Greenwich.
4. The following stations will lose one of their two fire engines: Chelsea, Chingford, Hayes, Leyton, Leytonstone, Peckham and Whitechapel.
5. A ward breakdown can be found here: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Documents/ward-impacts.pdf
   1. Kensington and Chelsea’s public meeting is on Monday, 10 June, 7-9pm in the Kensington Small Hall, Hornton Street, W8 7NX.

Westminster’s public meeting is on Tuesday, 11 June 7-9pm at the Paker Morris Hall, The Abbey Centre, 34 Great Smith St, London SW1P 3BU.