Folkestone Town Council Takes Action on Fire Cuts

A special meeting of Folkestone Town Council on Wednesday at University Centre, Folkestone unanimously condemned the recent cut to Folkestone Fire Services and pledged to collate figures to lobby for the reinstatement of the cut services.

The specially convened meeting heard advise that allow the Town Council had the powers to pursue a legal challenge against the decision, the likelihood of success of such a challenge was small, and the potential cost would run into many thousands. The Council instead decided that it would concentrate on monitoring the service locally over coming months to gather any evidence of increased injuries, fatalities and response times.

This record will be regularly updated and reported to Council and used as the basis of lobbying of the Fire Authority to reinstate services - especially if it can be proved that the Authority's assertion of very limited extra risk locally was wrong, as local residents strongly believe.

A motion, proposed by Folkestone Lib Dem Group Leader Tim Prater and backed by all Councillors present, said:

"This Council deplores the decision of Kent Fire Authority to cut the cover at Folkestone Fire Station. The cuts will see one full-time pump, 24 full-time firefighters and the turntable ladder removed from Folkestone as of April 2008.

"This Council resolves to maintain and assess a record of available information on service cover in Folkestone and Shepway, including from the Fire Authority and FBU. This record will show figures to date and as they are released in the future, and will record the date of this service cut and other changes to the cover provided at Folkestone and other local Fire Stations.

"This record should be reported each year as appropriate to Full Council, and any indication of increased response times or increased fatalities and injuries should be used to lobby the Fire Authority for the reinstatement of at least the current level of cover to Folkestone Fire Station."