Clwyd West MS Darren Millar has objected to all of three of the options North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority put forward in their consultation on the future provision of emergency fire and rescue service cover in North Wales.
Darren is concerned that all three options would lead to a reduction in cover at Rhyl Fire Station and in his response to the consultation has told the Authority that as such he is unable to support any of the options.
He also urged the Authority to consider the alternative option being proposed by firefighters.
His response states:
“While I applaud the Fire and Rescue Authority’s ambition to increase the ability to respond to incidents at more households within 20 minutes, I regret that I must strongly object to all of three of the options in the consultation document on the basis that they would all lead to a reduction in cover at Rhyl Fire Station.
“As you will be aware, crews in Rhyl provide cover for many of my constituents in the Towyn and Kinmel Bay area. This area has the largest number of households in Wales at risk of flooding and the population rises from around 10,000 to 70,000 in the summer months due to the large number of holiday caravans in the area.
“The catastrophic Towyn floods on 1990 are still etched into local memory and, should there ever be a repeat of such a major incident then it is critical that fire and rescue response crews are on hand immediately to assist, particularly if a flood took place at night during the visitor season.
“Holiday caravan fires can also be devastating and the density of these on some local holiday parks, along with the huge increase in the population during the visitor season does not appear to have been considered by the Authority in developing its proposals.
“Having discussed your proposals with local firefighters it would appear that, in their professional opinion, there is an alternative to the options in the consultation paper which is yet to be explored by the Fire and Rescue Authority which would enable the retention of 24/7 cover in Rhyl and increase the number of households able to receive a 20 minute response beyond those in your options while still creating three new hub stations to serve rural North Wales. I understand that the cost of the alternative is likely to add around £20 per annum to the annual precept which is literally less than the cost of a packet of peanuts each week for a year.
“Given the above, I would urge the Fire and Rescue Authority to consider the alternative option as a matter of urgency.”
