Cliffe Fire Station
Cliffe Local Fire Cover Reduced NOW
LATEST we have received the response to our Freedom of Information request. Across Kent there has been a c.26% reduction since May 2007 with a c.11% reduction during the last year alone in the change from retained to part time. There has only been one increase in numbers since the change to Part Time in Kent with one extra at Cliffe. This shows that it is a Kent wide problem, with others affected in a similar way, although Cliffe numbers are lower than most (7), there are a number with only 3, 4, 5 or 6. (click here for figures across Kent)
Ann Millington also attached a detailed email to explain her concerns about not alarming local residents and that the service has been improved. To be even handed, the figures should not be read in isolation but along with Ann Millington’s email (see below).
KFRS have accepted an invite to attend our next Parish Council meeting on 4h August at 7pm in the Cliffe Woods Primary School, View Riad at 7pm.
Changes to the contracts of Cliffe retained firefighters has led to many leaving the service. This is despite better, more flexible, contracts being given to former retained firefighters in other fire stations in Kent. This has meant that there are not enough firefighters to cover the Cliffe Fire Engine and engines have had to be called in from further away to respond to a large fire on the Cliffe foreshore and a major incident at Kingsnorth and that was only in the first three days of the new arrangements.
Firefighters contacted the Parish Council with early notice of their concerns at the end of 2010 and we included an article in the Winter 2011 edition of the Cliffe Clarion to let residents know and to encourage them to complete the Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) survey.
In April at the Annual Parish Meeting (a meeting of residents organised by the Parish Council) firefighters updated the community on the problems. A resolution was passed in support of the local fire station. The next Parish Council meeting was held on 12th May, following the election of all 16 councillors and they agreed to organise a special edition of the Clarion, deliver to all houses and hold a Public Meeting in the Cliffe Memorial Hall on Wednesday 1st June. The Chief Executive of KFRS was invited but declined (see letter responding to concerns raised in The Clarion and explaining her absence, below). Mark Reckless MP (Rochester and Strood), Cllrs Tom Mason and Peter Rodberg (Strood Rural-Medway) and Mark Simmons from the Fire Brigade Union attended. Local councillor Tom Mason is also the Vice Chair of the Kent & Medway Fire & Rescue Authority - a ‘council’ made up of elected members from Kent County, Medway Unitary and other Kent District Councils. See attached notes of the meeting below.
A FACEBOOK Page has been set-up to monitor the situation and allow people to say what the local service means to them. We will also update this page with more information as it becomes available.
Other Information :
