Well, well..... 12 months, 3 public meetings all well attended, 1000 letters, 1000+ petition signatures, 2 marches, 1000's of emails & phone calls, total support from all Bidford's population, our YFA group, our parish councillors including our dedicated parish clerk, District Councillors, County Councillor, former and current MP's.......thank you all from The Support Group, we were only ever as strong as our support....and ultimately we all got what our community deserved....
WE STAY OPEN FOR BUSINESS
We are very disappointed with the Studley closure and the loss of Alcester retained crew, I hope they look at different options to keep the stations open.
17.07.2010
3 days to go before the Councillors decide!
Yesterday was an interesting day.We had a live interview broadcast with BBC CWR at 7.00 am
Mike yet again stressed the fact that no one was listening to any of us, did you know that 42% of all letters received by WCC came from the area Bidford 36 covers? and 94% of all correspondence rejected the improvement plans.
Late in the day we had a Press release from Cllr Hobbs and he favours option B that keeps Bidford 36 open, that sounds good but we have to remember the real deal for us in the South West is optionC. If we keep us open under option B it means the area still loses 2 retained crews and 2 YFA unit's so it would be a bit of a hollow victory, so the Support Group, the Local Councillors, our MP and his team are still campaigning for Option C
This was Cllr Hobbs press release:-
Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service – Improvement Plan
“Cllr Richard Hobbs, the Cabinet’s Community Protection portfolio holder,
has examined all three options put forward by the Chief Fire Officer in his reports to
Cabinet and full Council on 20 July 2010. He has had informal discussions with members of the Cabinet and will be asking Cabinet on 20 July to recommend option B to the Council as the best foundation for an improved Fire and Rescue Service for the people of Warwickshire.
Members will be debating this recommendation along with the Chief Fire Officer’s other options next Tuesday.
A final decision will be made by the full Council after a full and rigorous debate has taken place on all options.
We are taking this opportunity to share our thinking with our political colleagues in advance of next week’s meetings, so that they have time to prepare fully for the debates and for some very difficult decisions that will need to be made as
part of this important process.
We also spotted this on Youtube:-
Go on, you need to watch it and just see if you end up throwing something at your screen!
13.07.2010
Make your voice heard on the latest closure plans,
contact all Warwickshire County Councillors at this link, you can get all their details here,
phone them, email them, write to them .....
or even turn up on their doorstep!
08.07.2010
Well Now we Know!
The closure of Bidford 36 has been included in an option for the council to vote on at the WCC meeting on the 20th July.
Despite being 100% efficient, being called on to major incidents in recent weeks and giving WFRS and WCC a plan to achieve their targets....they still would like to close us down.
There are other options which leave us alone and that is where we, as a support group will be focusing our efforts. All details will be on here on a daily basis if there is any news, this will be a busy time for us.....but be assured......
we're up for the fight as always!
07.07.2010
Urgent News!!
Make sure you come back here tomorrow, because we have some startling news about the station, we know the options being put to Warwickshire County Council and will share them with you!!
4.07.2010
The following passage is the report of Tony Morgan RFU President after witnessing our local MPs in Parliament lobbying the relevant minister.
In my capacity as RFU President I attended my first meeting with the Minister, Bob Neill MP on the 30th June accompanied by General Secretary John Barton and Assistant General Secretary Tristan Ashby.We discussed national issues which will be reported on in due course but further meetings that day focused entirely on the ongoing concerns regarding the Warwickshire stations closures.
Advance planning enabled the opportunity for a number of meetings in London with various MPs at Portcullis House including the Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White , Chris had taken the initiative and was fortunate to have secured a debate in Westminster Hall. We were also joined by North Warwickshire MP Dan Byles, himself a stalwart supporter of the campaign against the planned closure of Bedworth.When the debate commenced, we sat in the public gallery and witnessed a passionate speech on behalf of the communities of Warwickshire in the face of the plan to close stations. Chris White was well supported by all the other Warwickshire MP’s and it is appropriate that they receive a mention in this circular. Nadhim Zahawi, Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon, covering Alcester, Studley and Bidford Fire Stations, Dan Byles, Conservative MP for North Warwickshire, covering Bedworth Fire Station Jeremy Wright, Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam Mark Pawsey, Conservative MP for Rugby, covering Brinklow Fire Station The mechanics of a debate are that the sponsor (Chris White) makes a speech in the presence of the appropriate minister, in this case Bob Neill, who, at the end of the speech and interventions by others present, responds for the government.
Amongst a number of comments made, the minister did say regarding the Atherstone enquiry that, ‘An argument can be advanced for bearing in mind the outcome of that inquiry before coming to any final conclusions on the shape of the service’. We are in total agreement with this comment; we have long held the view that the perceived outcome of the Atherstone inquiry is being used to engineer a business case for cutting Retained fire stations. We believe it is far better to await the outcome and then bring forward any proposals based upon the report. During the discussions which followed the debate, one thing is perfectly clear, the Warwickshire MPs are totally on the side of the firefighters under threat and the communities they serve.
I can also give you a solemn commitment on behalf of the RFU that until we get a decision on the 20th July, no opportunity to lobby the decision makers will be wasted.
Tony MorganRFU President
19.06.2010
Apologies for my absence over the past weeks, 2 reasons, we have had a bit of a quiet time.....and I have had PC problems.
However, things are starting to speed up again. Firstly on Tuesday 22nd of June we have a last chance to let the councillors know our feeling about the potential closure of our Fire Station at the Community Forum. This will be held at St Benedict's High School in Alcester at 6.30 pm for a 7.00 pm start.
Let's have some support folks and let them know we still care about the Station.
12.05.2010
Well, the election is over and we now have a new MP Mr Nadhim Zahawi, we met him a few times before the election and he seems very committed to help us keep the stations open. Let's hope he is up for a fight, because his Conservative colleagues in Warwick won't make it easy for him, so let's give him our best wishes.
Another supporter's success came by way of Daren Pemberton's re election. Daren has supported us at Forum meetings and also at meetings with WFRS, he has already committed to continuing that support, and for that we thank him.
21.04.2010
With the election race hotting up, there is a queue of politicians and their entourages contacting us to tell us they want to save the station, now then....we will welcome help from wherever it comes, the colour of the rosette is, quite frankly, irrelevant. We have always maintained a non political stance and will continue to do so, and will continue to acknowledge the support we get from all the MP's, Prospective MP's, County Councillors, District Councillors, Prospective District Councillors and all the other people who have helped and supported us.
If one political party gets a bit upset that we have acknowledged another party's support, they should be asking themselves why are they upset, the end result is what we want...the station kept operational.....
lets not any of us forget that!!
9.04.2010
Last week, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Glen Ranger, left his position in WFRS to Join Luton and Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
We wish him well in his new job.
Do you remember DCFO Ranger?
He's the man who championed the station closures at all the meetings and was one of the main instigators of the "Improvement Plan" to close our station. With his departure, there are NO SENIOR UNIFORMED and qualified personnel left inWFRS that devised that Consultation or plan. There are still some Civvy business managers but all the trained firefighters are gone!
And just to add a tiny bit of irony, DCFO Ranger has joined up with Paul Fuller, the main architect of the ill devised Improvement Plan, and guess what...there are no wholesale closures planned for their Brigade!
You couldn't make this up could you?
2.04.2010
We are trying to get conformation of this, but it has been reported to us that on Tuesday, the full complement of 31 Conservative County Councillors opposed a motion to delete the clause from the new IRMP that requires the closure of the 7 Warwickshire Stations.
Beware all literature from ANY Political sources until you're satisfied Saving Our Station runs ALL THE WAY through their idealogy.
Talk is cheap as far as saying Keep the stations open.......remember Richard Hobbs promise last May, then plotting to close the station in July!!
31.03.2010
We hope to have an update on the latest IRMP (sorry Integrated Risk Management Plan) very shortly, we are trying to get a definitive answer about mandatory consultation, and it's legal requirements.
Cllr.Richard Hobbs recently commented that the final announcement on the WFRS plans for the stations will be announced "Probably sometime in June" Refeshing to know we have a man who is really on the case!
Thanks to everyone who came along on Saturday, from The Village, our Parish Councillors, District and County Councillors and our LibDem and Conservative Parliamentary Candidates, Martin Turner and Nadhim Zahawi.
Special thanks to the Stations Firefighters, the Young Firefighters and their Instructors who gave their time to welcome visitors to the Station.
Thursday Marc 5th, on Touch FM Radio, Cllr Hobbs said The Improvement Plan was "flawed"! He won't say which parts, but on 19th October theWFRS Panel said we must accept the Plan in it's entirity or else it won't work, so.....if parts of it are flawed, and we can't have the good parts (Their words not mine) then the whole thing should be thrown out.. that's the line we are taking.
The Support group reconvened in early January to plan the next phase of defending the station from closure.
Despite the announcement on 15th Dec. to delay the decision on station closures,
OUR FIGHT GOES ON!
Nothing has changed yet, except a date.
If you have anything you would like to add please contact us --------->
