MP Harris to raise fire cuts in Parliament (From Oxford Mail)

MP Harris to raise fire cuts in Parliament

6:12pm Wednesday 27th January 2010 in News

OXFORD West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris has said he will raise the proposed cuts to the town’s fire cover in Parliament.

Oxfordshire fire and rescue service says moving two full-time staff from its stations in Didcot and Abingdon will reduce county-wide shortfalls in cover, even though it will lengthen response times to emergencies in the two towns at evenings and weekends.

Mr Harris said the proposals have not been widely-enough consulted on and is calling for a parliamentary debate.

Dr Harris said insufficient people were made aware of four public meetings to discuss the changes.

He said: “My concern is the proposal to downgrade cover in Abingdon, which obviously would be very worrying, and the lack of consultation so people do not understand why it is being done.

“I certainly wasn't informed of any meetings taking place.

“It’s rather typical of the county council to propose these cuts on the quiet so information has to be dug up.”

But Chief Fire Officer John Parry said he “entirely disagreed” with Dr Harris. He said: “The consultation process has been both thorough and lengthy.

“From the outset we have sought to consult as widely as possible, contacting hundreds of local councillors, businesses, special interest groups and our five neighbouring fire and rescue services.”

Meanwhile both Didcot and Abingdon Town Councils have spoken out against the plans, saying the A34, Didcot Power Stations and Harwell and Culham Atomic Sites were all areas of major and increasing risk.

Firefighters have collected 3,000 letters of objection to the proposals after door-knocking houses in both towns.

Didcot-based firefighter Richard West said: "Some people were literally grabbing the pen and letter off me to sign it because they are so supportive of the firemen.”

Consultation ends on Sunday.