MERE Fire Station has been spared closure after Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority backed revised proposals that keep eight retained stations open – for now.
The decision follows months of campaigning by firefighters, residents, councillors and MPs, who argued closing rural stations would increase emergency response times and put lives at risk.
However, the outcome falls short of the certainty campaigners had hoped for, with the future of the stations still dependent on the fire service securing greater funding from central government.
Under the approved proposals, the stations will remain open if the government grants Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service the flexibility to increase its share of council tax to the national average.
If that funding is not secured, the option of station closures remains on the table.
Chief Fire Officer Andy Cole said the decision reflected a significant change in the service’s financial outlook.
“I’ve said throughout this process that if our financial position changed then my recommendations to the authority would change,” he said.
He said discussions with ministers, MPs and officials had resulted in support from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for an application to increase the fire service precept.
Mr Cole said raising the fire service element of council tax from around £1.86 to £2.02 per week for the average household would generate around £2 million a year.
“That would stabilise our finances and enable me to get on with the job of modernising and improving the service rather than shrinking it and making cuts,” he said.
He stressed that modernisation was “not about making cuts, it’s about making improvements”, with plans including investment in people, equipment, vehicles, buildings and technology.
Alice Elliott, who founded the Save Our Fire Stations campaign, was disappointed with the outcome.
“It didn’t go the way that we hoped,” she said. “The condition was left in place that should the conditions not be met, that the stations will close.
“We’re going to have to continue as hard as possible to make sure that doesn’t happen – that Dorset and Wiltshire are provided the precept flexibility, but at the minute this is a very tough situation to be in.”
While the immediate threat has been lifted, the debate over the future of Wiltshire’s retained fire stations is set to continue until a final funding decision is made.
The retained fire service team in Maiden Newton is an extremely essential part of the emergency cover for this widely spread rural community. Every second’s delay may prove catastrophic or fatal for those depending utterly on the swiftest response possible from our emergency services.