Closure of Mere Fire Station

The parish council has now written to Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, 27 April, text below:

 

To Andy Cole QFSM, Chief Fire Officer, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service,

Dear Chief Fire Officer,

Proposed closure of Mere Fire Station

I am writing to you as Chair of Upper Deverills Parish Council.  Along with other Parish Councilors I attended your online consultation meeting on 23 April. I must say that I do not envy your position.  I was impressed at the logical and ordered way in which you have analysed the situation that you are in.  I can understand how you have arrived at your conclusions regarding Mere and the other Fire Stations which are listed for potential closure. I appreciate that this is not something that you would generally want.  However, I want you to know that this Parish Council – and a good number of our residents – are very much opposed to the potential closure of Mere Fire Station.

This Parish Council  covers the villages of Kingston Deverill, Monkton Deverill and Brixton Deverill as well as a number of outlying farms.  In our view we would be especially vulnerable if these proposals were to go ahead.  We have a number of thatched properties, as well as numerous Listed Buildings with timber construction.  These have obvious enhanced fire risks.  We also have a large area of farmland in arable cropping with accompanying fire risks at certain times of the year.  We are quite remote when compared to some communities with poor to non existent mobile phone signal which may be relevant in the case of an emergency.  We also have a water course with a history of flooding residential properties in recent years. There is also a busy airstrip in the Parish.  For all these reasons (and many others)  we value the proximity of the Fire Station in Mere.

We are concerned that if these proposed closures went ahead then the longer response times that you identified would leave us dangerously exposed. Furthermore, if the number of Fire Stations was reduced from 50 to 42 then your assets would be spread further afield and in the event of a number of concurrent incidents we would be at serious risk.

You mentioned during the meeting that if Council Tax was to rise by around £10 per annum per household, then these proposals could be avoided.  We have not carried out a survey but we have a pretty good idea of the views of our residents.  Some people feel that they are already paying for a fire service and do not see why they should pay more, just to receive the service that they have already paid for once.  However, I have to tell you that the majority – the overwhelming majority – feel that they would be prepared to pay an extra £10 per annum in order to ensure that Mere Fire Station stays open.

We therefore ask you to impress our views on the Fire Authority when they come to decide on this matter in June.  We ask that you urge them to take our views fully into consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Fagan

Cllr Jamie Fagan
Chair, Upper Deverills Parish Council