A cohort of London local councils say they are preparing a legal challenge to Mayor Boris Johnson’s decision to go ahead with proposed cuts to London’s fire services. The plan, meant to save GB pound 28.8 million over two years, would include closing 10 fire stations, removing 14 engines, and cutting 550 jobs.
Explore which London fire stations are scheduled to be closed.
Johnson overruled a narrow decision by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) not to execute the cuts. He wants the plan implemented by 16 September. Two stations that had been targeted for closure (Clapham and New Cross) have received reprieves.
Ian Leahair, executive member for London for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), called the mayor’s decision an “affront to democracy” in a press release.
The cuts are dangerous and wrong, and this is devastating news for Londoners, with lives across the capital being put at risk by the Mayor’s reckless cuts.
Johnson has simply ignored the evidence, and his cuts will mean slower response times for 4 million Londoners.
Growing discontent
The number of local councils expected to challenge the cuts in court is growing. Hackney has added its voice to those of Islington, Camden, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, and possibly Lewisham.
Islington Labour councillor Joe Caluori told the BBC that a judicial review was “the only way we can stop this from happening.” His council will seek the review on the grounds that the mayor did not listen to the consultation responses, and that the changes would put lives at risk do not take high-rise buildings into account.
The BBC reported: “Ninety four per cent of Londoners who took part in the public consultation opposed frontline cuts in the London Fire Brigade.”
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson made the original cost-cutting proposal in January. When he issued a revised plan (which the LFEPA rejected) in July, he said in a press release:
We have to acknowledge that the number of fires we attend has gone down by half in the last ten years, and our latest figures show that fires continued to fall at the same rate last year…
Fire stations and fire engines do not stop fires happening — proactive prevention work does.
A letter of intent — the first step in a judicial review — will be sent to the mayor in the next few days. After that, lawyers will give their final opinion on whether the case is strong enough to go ahead.
Related posts:
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
Is it just me, or is it just selective blindness to future possible events, why is it so difficult to be seen that to have any emergency service of a strength such that it can cope when the crap hits the fan, it is always going to seem excessive for our day to day needs, this continuous ‘Rationalisation’ of services means that they are stretched to the limit to cope on a daily basis, unlike the Police who’s presences is seen patrolling the streets, the Fire, Hospital and ambulance services, tend to remain tucked away in their buildings, only being… Read more »
Thanks for your insight @SFX Supervisor. Subjectively, Government’s generally have always seemed to be pretty poor at purchasing efficiently. Maybe it’s just because we read about it more (you’re hardly likely to hear a story about a medium-sized business spending too much on useless IT equipment. They’ll just quietly go out of business) but it’s a life-long tail that the purchasing power of these services is immense, and often doesn’t appear to be properly utilised.
LFB has been told it has to find over £28m of savings, but how much has been wasted on… FireControl… just for instance?
@Robert Brown: Do you feel that the investments that are being done for IT and Technology is enough ? Or is it being not utilized properly ?
Interesting point. Better investment (note: better, not necessarily more) could itself produce huge efficiency savings.