THE fire authority member who called the county’s MPs out over service cuts has been slapped down as too inexperienced to take such a stance.

Bill Wiggin cited the saving of Kingsland station in his constituency to Cllr Jim Kenyon  who – as reported by the Hereford Times - attacked both MPs for not being at the fire authority meeting that saw full-time 24/7 fire and rescue cover reduced at Hereford and Ledbury lose a retained engine.

 Kingsland station had originally been targeted for closure under the savings plan, but now stays open.

Mr Wiggin released a letter sent to him by Mark Yates, chief fire officer for Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service,  that recognised talks the MP secured at ministerial level over funding issues for the service.

“I have repeatedly fought for a level of funding that keeps my constituent’s safe as well as supporting the retained fire fighters who put their lives on the line, despite doing their everyday jobs,” said Mr Wiggin.

“The best performing fire station is Kingsland in my constituency which was threatened with closure. I am pleased that Kingsland remains open and the retained firefighters will be staying there to protect our community.

“Once Jim Kenyon has attended more than two meetings of Hereford & Worcester Fire & Rescue Authority, which is a body on which councillors sit and not MPs, he will have enough experience to realise that Herefordshire has a great story to tell with the safety and reduction of fatal incidents over the years,” he said.

Julian Gore, Kingsland Fire Station watch commander, said: “Mr Wiggin came and supported us, he took the time to come to the station. I understand he has been talking to the chief and has been supporting us as much as he can.”

On Friday, Jesse Norman hit back at Cllr Kenyon who took a swing at both MPs for not being at this week’s fire authority meeting that voted to cut full-time 24/7 fire and rescue cover at Hereford station down to a single crew as few as four.

Mr Norman accused Cllr Kenyon of “playing politics” over an issue the MP took on in 2010.

At the Shirehall last week, the fire authority backed a a compromise to Hereford station losing one of its two full-time crews.

The vote means two crews will be available full-time over 12 hours during the day with the station’s second engine being covered by a retained crew over 12 hours at night.

A third engine remains retained as at present.

But the option assumes a crew as few as four for the full-time engine.

Cllr Kenyon says Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) is underfunded to the extent of being the second worst funded in England at £15 per head compared to the £22 average.

If the service received the average, said Mr Kenyon, then it wouldn’t be faced with the frontline cuts it has to make.

Now, said Cllr, Herefordshire was the only county in the country served by a single full-time fire crew at night.

“Neither of Herefordshire’s two MPs was at this meeting  where the service was forced to make cuts imposed by their government’s policies,” said Cllr Kenyon.

At the meeting, fire authority member  Cllr  Richard Udell said that the compromise allowed for “minimisation” of damage caused by government imposed cuts that neither the authority or the service wanted.

Mr Kenyon said  “We’re not playing with lives, we’re making decisions on lives.”

Mr Norman said Cllr Kenyon was “playing politics” over the cuts when he, as an MP, had been working on the issue since 2010.

Then, Mr Norman was involved in publishing a first ever independent report into the underfunding of public services, with reference to fire and rescue services amongst its conclusions.

"Since then I have met repeatedly with ministers and officials to make the case for fairer funding.  In particular, Bill Wiggin and I convened a meeting with Worcestershire MPs in October 2013, with the Minister and the service to lobby directly for more support from central government,” said Mr Norman.

“I have also visited Fire Stations across my constituency and met regularly with fire fighters, and I have been briefed by the Fire Brigades Union,” he said.

The fire authority first consulted on cuts last year and a plan that originally proposed removing one of the two full-time fire engines in Hereford altogether.

Also planned was the removal of either the second on-call fire engine in Ross or the only on-call fire engine in Whitchurch - which would have meant the closure of Whitchurch Fire Station.

"Like many others I was deeply concerned about the original proposals, and I am delighted that they have now been greatly improved,” said Mr Norman.

"First, the plans to remove fire engines in Whitchurch and Ross have been dropped altogether, which is a huge relief to people living in the south of the county.  Secondly, we will still have three fire engines in Hereford, not two as originally proposed.  Overall, this means that Hereford and South Herefordshire has fared much better than many other parts of the country,” he said.

The MP does concede “disappointment” at a second engine in Hereford being crewed full-time for 12 hours and on-call for 12 hours.

“But like their full-time colleagues, the quality of our retained fire fighters is very high; and crucially, there will still be three fire engines in the city,” he said.

The service says the number of incidents it has attended has fallen 20% since 2002, with the number of fires has falling by 30%.

Though the cut will mean redundancies the service says none need to be compulsory.

The fire authority accepts that the cuts will compromise response times in the county, but, maintains that, with the retained crews, enough back up is in place.

In voting for the cut, the fire authority committed the service to exploring the feasibility of the second engine being covered at by a different full-time shift pattern.

A report on that option – called day crew plus – is due before the authority within the next 6-12 months.

Members heard that, to secure savings, full-time crews could come down to as few as four unless some £800,000 was released from the service’s reserves to support the current five.

Four, members heard, was considered “safe” but the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) argues strongly against this.

The authority was voting on a savings plan called Community Risk Management (CRM) drawn up to cover the service’s projected budget gap of more than £2 million by 2016-17.

Under the first draft of CRM  - which outline cuts in funding for frontline services – Hereford would have lost an appliance with full-time cover down to a single engine backed up by a retained crew.

Ledbury and Tenbury will lose one of their two retained crews as originally proposed.

 Both towns plan protests over their respective losses

 The approved option saves just over £1.4 million leaving a shortfall of £236,000.