Budget cuts will put public safety at risk

I wish to voice my concerns and make fellow residents of Scarborough aware of the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Fire Cover Review. The service have put forward two proposals that directly affect Scarborough in order to save money due to savage budget cuts by the present Conservative Government.

In the first proposal, the service propose to reduce the number of firefighters available in Scarborough to respond to incidents. This would be achieved by replacing one of Scarborough’s two standard fire appliances that currently carry five firefighters with a transit-like van carrying two firefighters.

The second proposal would see attendance times of the second fire appliance responding to incidents increased significantly by making one of Scarborough’s two fire appliances day crewed.

In short, this means that during the day the appliance is crewed full time from the station, but during evening and night time this would change to a crew at home responding to station when required.

Scarborough is a large town that is growing and will potentially attract a greater number of people to live and visit here.

There are major developments planned for the town too and it deserves an appropriate level of fire cover for its residents and visitors alike.

If you feel strongly enough contact our MP and local councillors too.