Agenda item

The Chairman reported receipt of the above mentioned motion from Councillors Jeff Osborn and Terry Chivers. 

Accordingly, Councillor Jeff Osborn moved the following motion which was duly seconded by Cllr Terry Chivers:

‘Recognising the dire financial circumstances facing the  Wiltshire and Swindon Combined Fire Authority and the need to maintain a viable fire and rescue service for our residents; this Council declares its  support for a merger between Wiltshire and Swindon CFA and Dorset CFA.’

Cllr Jeff Osborn in promoting his motion to Council urged the Council to support the merger. He considered that should the merger not take place, it would result in fire station closures and would have a detrimental impact on front line services.

Cllr Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet member for Hubs, Heritage & Arts, Governance and Support Services responded to the motion. Cllr Wheeler considered that the Council should wait for full details of what was being proposed before giving its view. He therefore proposed the following amendment:

‘This council understands the financial challenges the Wiltshire and Swindon Combined Fire Authority, as with all other public services, needs to address, but urges the Fire Authority to consider all options to address those challenges. To this end this council will consider the matter fully at its next meeting on 21 October 2014 when further information on all the options is available, including the views of the residents of Wiltshire, before formally giving its response to the Fire Authority as part of the consultation process’.

Having been moved by the Chairman and seconded and being put to the vote, it was

Resolved:

That the motion be debated.

The Chairman invited Group Leaders to speak on the motion before opening the debate to other members.

The Leader agreed that all possible options on how savings could be achieved should be considered. Due to the squeeze on public sector financing, this was a reality being faced by all public sector organisations and where working in partnership was becoming more and more of a necessity. The Leader considered that the Council should await the release of full details by the Fire Authority, examine the evidence on how savings could be achieved before it reached a conclusion.

Cllr Jon Hubbard agreed with the Leader’s comments. He explained that without the facts being available, he had not yet been able to form an opinion on the merger. He therefore supported the amendment.

This meeting had been preceded by a brief presentation by Cllr Chris Devine in his capacity as Chairman of Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority. Cllr Devine explained the financial challenges facing the Fire Authority and the possible solutions to meet them which would all need to be examined in detail and would be the subject of a 14 week consultation period. A public consultation document would be made available detailing the three options under consideration.  It was noted that the consultation period would close on 20 October a day before the next Council meeting on 21 October. Cllr Devine did however, assure Council that any views from that Council meeting would be included as part of the consultation feedback.

A number of members participated in the debate. Some members considered that a merger provided the only viable option to achieve the savings needed and therefore the Council should support the merger without any further delay. There was concern that any delay would have a detrimental impact on the quality and response times of the emergency fire service.  Cllr Devine assured Council that there would be no threat to the fire service being able to respond to emergencies and that if necessary, financial reserves would be utilised.

A number of other members agreed with the thrust of the amendment, that the Council should be in possession of all the facts before giving its views.

On being put to the vote, the amendment as detailed above, was CARRIED and on being put to the vote as the substantive motion, it was also CARRIED, it was therefore,

Resolved:

That motion No. 11 – Fire Authority Merger be adopted as amended as follows:

This council understands the financial challenges the Wiltshire and Swindon Combined Fire Authority, as with all other public services, needs to address, but urges the Fire Authority to consider all options to address those challenges. To this end this council will consider the matter fully at its next meeting on 21 October 2014 when further information on all the options is available, including the views of the residents of Wiltshire, before formally giving its response to the Fire Authority as part of the consultation process.