Fears Nottinghamshire could be left with ‘lesser fire service’ if cuts at three stations go ahead

The major changes, proposed by Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service to reduce a budget deficit, would see West Bridgford Fire Station have no crew on duty at all at night, and both London Road and Stockhill losing one appliance each.

However, the service is also proposing a reversal of its controversial 2018 decision to take away full-time crew cover at Ashfield Fire Station in favour of day shifts and on-call cover at night.

Instead, NFRS plans the return of 24-hour cover at the Kirkby station in a move hailed by local leaders as a ‘massive victory’ for residents and public safety.

The changes will be discussed by members of the Nottinghamshire Fire Authority at a meeting on Friday, September 23.

The service says the changes are the “best option” for recouping a shortall in its budget.

West Bridgford would be the area worst-hit by the changes, with NFRS planning a shift from 24-hour to solely day cover and no firefighters working through the night.

This is expected to increase average response times by 43 seconds at a station already significantly above the service’s eight-minute target.

Mark Stilwell, East Midlands FBU branch chairman, said: “The Ashfield decision is correct, but should have been taken anyway, because it’s fixing a mistake, but we can’t have stations put back at the cost of others.

“I don’t know how the service can justify a 43-second increase in response times in West Bridgford. This is just the first pump – with the second pumps you’re talking minutes rather than seconds for increased responses.

“This year already we’ve had some of the highest fire deaths for decades and, in Ashfield, there have been more fire deaths since the 2018 cuts.”

Ashfield would see its response times reduce by 48 seconds as it benefits from increased crewing at night.

The removal of second appliances at Stockhill and London Road, which cover Nottingham, are forecast to increase response times in the city by 21 seconds on average.

Response times would also be increased by 10 seconds in Gedling and nine seconds in Broxtowe, while Mansfield would have a three-second improvement. Bassetlaw and Newark & Sherwood would be unaffected.

Overall, service-wide response times are expected to increase by an average of seven seconds, taking responses four seconds above the eight-minute target.

Mr Stilwell said: “Everybody gets affected by this, it’s a domino effect – it will leave a lesser fire service overall in Nottinghamshire.”

Ashfield’s return to 24-hour cover would reverse a decision described by Mr Stilwell earlier this year as ‘failing completely’.

Figures published earlier this year found on-call availability at the station was down to 88.9 per cent, having operated at 98.1 per cent availability when the 2018 changes were made.

And, in the most recent financial year, the station was also only able to provide two appliances about a fifth of the time.

NFRS declined to comment ahead of Friday’s meeting.

However, in reports prepared for the meeting, Chief Fire Officer Craig Parkin said: “It is not possible to save sufficient money from existing budgets without reducing the ridership.”

Overall, the savings will see the number of fire appliances across the county reduced from 30 to 28.

The service is also forecasting a reduction in crew numbers by 44 posts to 312, although it says this will not lead to redundancies, because it will meet the figure by not filling vacant posts, among other measures.

If approved, the changes will be the subject of a 12-week public consultation from September 26.