MP claims fire service changes leave Stratford “dangerously exposed”

STRATFORD MP Manuela Perteghella has slammed “drastic cuts” to the fire service as “reckless” and slated the “undemocratic” way decisions were made.

Ms Perteghella said she has “grave concerns” about changes to Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service (WFRS) being rolled out by Warwickshire County Council (WCC) under its resourcing to risk plan.

In an excoriating letter to the council’s portfolio holder for fire and rescue and community safety, Cllr Andy Crump, and WFRS chief fire officer Ben Brook, the MP warned the fiercely debated changes leave Stratford “dangerously exposed”.

She added it was “unacceptable” that the decision was taken by the cabinet with “no opportunity for full council debate and no meaningful engagement with the communities affected”.

She also accused Cllr Crump and Mr Brook of a “systematic failure in recruitment of on-call firefighters” and a “lack of effort” to recruit fire fighters which has “hollowed out” rural fire stations, leading to “chronic under-staffing”.

And she urged the council and fire service leaders to launch an urgent recruitment drive.

Lib Dem MP Perteghella, who was elected to Parliament in July last year, also called for WFRS to publish second and third appliance attendance times, to bring more “transparency and accountability”.

But Cllr Crump (Con, Southam, Stockton & Napton) hit back in a stinging rebuke, criticising her letter as “poorly researched” and saying he is “taking advice” on whether to make a formal complaint about it.

He also questioned the timing – it’s dated 10th March – as “strange”, coming just before the ‘purdah’ period starts for the county council elections on 1st May.

He told the Herald: “In my opinion, the letter is poorly evidenced.

“It is replaying issues and items that have already been addressed at many WCC meetings over the last 12 months or so.”

Cllr Crump denied the changes are cuts and cited the recent opening of the £4m fire training centre in Rugby as evidence of investment in the fire service.

He pointed out the new model for WFRS has received on-going permanent revenue allocation, as reported in the Herald, so is funded for the foreseeable future.

A further £602,000 – increased funding that takes account of likely inflation and staffing costs – has been budgeted for in 2028-29 with another £614,000 for 2029-30, taking it to the end of the council’s five-year spending plan.

The plan is refreshed each year, but removing this money would need a fresh budgeting decision, as it has been allocated as a permanent spending feature.

Cllr Crump says that WFRS, on average, has 12 fire engines available in the day but under the new model there will be 14 fire engines with guaranteed availability.

The new model includes five on-call fire engines at night, and an extra four resilience fire engines available within two hours.

And he said the new model enables 27 per cent more capacity in the day for firefighters to deliver prevention and protection activities.

He said: “We all know how important that is, as at times WFRS has attended incidents well within response targets and has been too late to make a difference. This is not a cut to WFRS, this is the creation of a sustainable model for the future aligning resources to risk.”

Cllr Crump also pushed back on the “undemocratic” accusation made by Ms Perteghella, citing public consultations a year ago that attracted almost 1,300 responses, and explained it would have caused unnecessary delays and costs to re-run the public consultation after the plan was altered.

He said the model went through “the appropriate decision-making processes, including intensive scrutiny”, and he cited an overview and scrutiny committee meeting where members quizzed the chief fire officer and Cllr Crump on the changes.

Cllr Crump also “totally disagreed” with Ms Perteghella’s accusation that there has been a “lack of effort to recruit firefighters” and cited an ongoing recruitment drive to take on whole time firefighters which he said has attracted 1,000 applicants.

He also pointed to investment in an active vehicle location system and dynamic tracking tool which helps the chief fire officer move appliances dynamically around the county to maximise its response to risk/incidents.

And he said appliances are often moved into the south of the county to cover for unavailable ‘on call’ stations.

He added: “The changes to Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are now well under way and we have moved from consultation and decision making to implementation.

“Good progress is being made with implementation, working positively and closely with the representative bodies.”

Warwickshire County Council told the Herald there were no plans to pause or rethink the changes.

'The changes are now well under way, and we are in the implementation phrase, making good progress while working closely with staff and representative bodies,” a spokesperson said. “Our focus remains on successfully delivering these changes to ensure a sustainable and effective fire and rescue service for Warwickshire.”

They also confirmed the service will not be recording and publishing second and third appliance attendance times, as requested.

'WFRS, like many other fire and rescue services, measures performance based on the first appliance attendance times. Most incidents in Warwickshire (74.7 per cent) require only one fire appliance,” they added.