MAJOR plans to overhaul the fire service in Devon and Somerset - which could see cuts of £8m and more than 40 job losses - officially became the subject of a 12-weeks-long public consultation today (July 1).

Fire authority members gave the go ahead for the public scrutiny at their meeting on Friday with some declaring the proposals ‘quite frightening’ and the result of ‘turbo-charging austerity.’

Among the options being considered is the closure of Ashburton Fire Station, one of eight lined up for the chop across the two counties.

Fire chiefs insist all eight are in low-risk areas for fires and road accidents, adding that crews only attend a small number of urgent 999 shouts each year.

They reckon such matters can be dealt with by other stations just 15 minutes away, a claim hotly disputed by townspeople and local operators who have warned lives will be put at risk.

Cllr Frank Biederman said at the Friday gathering: ‘This is quite frightening, isn’t it? We can’t lose sight of the fact that, because of cuts, we’re going to have increased risks. In my opinion, the government need to wake up – they are forcing housebuilding onto us, and here we are talking about reducing services. I think when the public see more houses being built, they expect more services to come with it, not less. We should be doing more we can to stand up to that.’

He suggested: ‘We should defer making a decision on this so we can get more answers from the staff and to tell the government and our MPs what the reality of the cuts and the risk to the public are. Let us be honest, this will cost a life somewhere and there is no way I can support this.’

Cllr Rob Hannaford added: ‘We are right to be careful and cautions about any changes. We have been told that austerity is over, but this is turbo-charging austerity in our authority - and that feels wrong.’

Cllr Simon Coles said: ‘Nowhere in the consultation is there anything about whether the public want to be paying a little bit more for us. Had we been allowed a three per cent or £5 rise in the council tax then it will raise the amount we collect to a level that we can go forward with. We don’t even have the money to fund a pay rise for our firefighters and we are being pressured to do more with less, which seems like a recipe for disaster.’

A proposal to defer the decision on the consultation was defeated with just three of the 19-strong committee voting for it.

Cllr Polly Colthorpe, backing the process, said: ‘We have an operational layout that dates back to the 1940s. Things have changed so we must bring up-to-date and make use of the wonderful resources that we have.

‘Not all of the resources are in the right place and the move to consult on it is the best thing that we can do. We trust the public. We’re asking them for their opinions on what we can do and add to the things we’ve suggested.’

Vice-chairman of the committee, Cllr George Wheeler, added: ‘We have to do something but the on call system at present is not attractive to people with changing lifestyles, as we are failing to recruit and not retaining the staff we have. We need to do more prevention and protection work.

‘I am uncomfortable with some of the proposals and hope that those queries will be raised during the process, but there is nothing set in stone and all up for debate at future meetings.

‘This is the easy meeting compared to the November meeting when we will make a decision. There will be some uncomfortable decisions to take at that meeting but will be in the light of the consultations we have had.’

Chief Fire Officer Lee Howell, explaining the proposals, insisted the issue was not about saving money. The authority was looking to maximise resources regardless of the financial constraints.

He said: ‘If we were delivering the very best service that we could do, we wouldn’t be delivering this paper. At the moment, 20 per cent of our engines are not available at any time, so we are not starting from a great place.

‘Our ability to crew on-call stations is getting worse year on year. This is about reinvestment of resources. We are trying to improve the service that we provide to Devon and Somerset.

‘I have attended a range of incidents where it doesn’t matter how quickly you respond, you arrive too late. The best way to save lives is to focus on prevention and we want to invest more in protection and prevention but difficult decisions have to be made.’

Pete Bond, Director of Service Improvement, added: ‘The eight stations proposed for closure are in low risk areas and have adequate resources around them.’

Cllr Leigh Redman said: ‘This proposal is only the start of a long journey that will develop over the next few months. This opens it up wider than the original proposal as we can discuss the individual elements.

‘This doesn’t mean I or any of us support any of the recommendations, but this gives us a chance to go and get the answer from the public as to what they think.’

Seventeen councillors voted in favour of approving the consultation, with two abstentions.

Implementation of any changes agreed will start in 2020.

The proposals will now go forward for a 12-weeks public consultation from July 1 to September 20.

A final decision on which option, if any, will be taken forward by the fire authority in November.

Despite approving the proposals for consultation, councillors raised serious concerns about what was being planned.