Plans to be put to Fire Authority
Up to 24 jobs and one fire appliance could be axed as part of cuts plans to be put forward to the North Wales Fire Authority, reports Wrexham.com.
The Executive Panel of the Fire Authority voted to recommend to the full authority the plans, which are designed to save £1 million from the budget by 2019/20.
The proposed reduction in appliances from three to two in Wrexham, comes as the North Wales Fire Authority concluded that it was no longer possible to freeze the authority’s budget.
The decision is expected next month, with a public consultation on the plans to follow. The Fire Brigades Union and Plaid Cymru have hit out at the plans. FBU Secretary, Shane Price said: “The Fire Brigades Union are questioning their recommendation on the basis that a full review of operational cover in Wrexham and surrounding area have not been evaluated fully and that these cuts will have serious effect for the public of Wrexham and surrounding areas.
“This announcement is only weeks after moving into a brand new joint Ambulance £15million Station, Other options were on the table for discussion however they were all based on operational cuts which would always affect the public.”
Plaid Cymru’s Wrexham Chair and Chair of Caia Community Council, Marc Jones, said: “I’ve been approached by firefighters concerned that, if there’s an incident requiring two appliances at the prison, there will be no cover for the rest of the county.
“The fire service has a chief fire officer, a deputy and three assistants earning packages worth a combined £600,000 a year – I would rather see a scaling down of the top brass rather than losing valued frontline firefighters.”
Original source: Wrexham.com