Liberal Democrat Councillors' bid to save firefighters

Liberal Democrat councillors are fighting plans to cut the number of firefighters at Hinckley Fire Station.

Leicestershire Fire Authority has proposed to cut by eight the number of firefighters based at the Station.

Now Liberal Democrat Councillor Stuart Bray is putting forward a motion to the next Council meeting calling for the planned cuts to be dropped. He said "It is wrong to cut the number of firefighters at Hinckley Fire Station. Hinckley is a growing town and the Fire Station serves many other communities like Burbage and Barwell.

"Recently I attended a fire scene in Denis Road Burbage, it took over twenty minutes for the fire engine to get there because it was already busy dealing with another fire in Burbage. Until a few years ago there were two fire engines serving Hinckley and the nearby villages. If anything we should be looking to bring back a second fire engine to Hinckley not cutting the number of firefighters serving the area."

Local people also have a chance to show their opposition to the planned cuts. Hinckley's Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Michael Mullaney is running a petition to keep the firefighters based in Hinckley it can be signed online at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/savehinckleyfirefighters

Ends

The text of the motion is

"This Council notes with deep concern the proposed reduction of the number of firefighters at Hinckley Fire Station by 8. This is on top of the reduction of the number of fire engines from 2 to 1 a couple of years ago. This Council instructs the Chief Executive to write to the Fire Authority and urge them not to make further cuts in fire fighting provision at Hinckley."