PROPOSED CLOSURE OF FIRE STATIONS IN WARWICKSHIRE

That this House is alarmed by the proposal to close front line fire stations put forward by the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS); believes that such proposals ignore the wishes of the people of Warwickshire to retain their local fire stations; notes that such closures would make the WFRS the second smallest fire service in the UK, second only to that of the Isle of Wight, despite having a population nearly four times the size and covering an area five times larger; further notes that it would lead to an increase in response times, potentially endangering the public; further notes that closures would lead to the loss of many hardworking and highly skilled retained fire fighters; further notes it would ignore prospects for future industrial and housing development in the county; considers that it would leave fire services unable to deal with the growing number of road incidents; further believes that it would overstretch an already overburdened fire service, whose response times have already risen by 18 per cent. between 1996 and 2006; further notes that such closures would reduce the service's flexibility to deal with a range of incidents; and urges the Government to pressure WFRS to re-evaluate any such proposals.