East Sussex Fire Authority has between £1.9m and £2.5m of cuts to make, and rural Mayfield Fire Station looks to be closed to fill the gap.
Thursday’s Fire Authority meeting will consider a consultation on closure of the Mayfield station to start on 5th July immediately following the General Election. Four Options will be presented to residents and other stakeholders. While Option 1 is to keep the fire station open. Options 2, 3 and 4 are all variations on a closing Mayfield fire station.
The Fire Service has existed on single-year budget allocations for many years under the government arrangements for funding of local services, with limits to how much Council Tax can be raised. In this absence of multi-year funding, which would allow the Fire Service to properly plan ahead, it is forced to look for cuts in what it offers the people of East Sussex and Brighton and Hove.
For 20 years, senior Fire Service officers have suggested that East Sussex needs to consider reducing the number of small, rural stations, with reports indicating inefficiencies, including problems with staffing. But it has been a core value of the service that they don’t close fire stations. That is, until now.
Councillor Wendy Maples (Fire Authority Member and Leader of the Green Group) said, ‘I understand the Fire Service is under tremendous financial pressure, but it’s been under this same pressure, with the same possible solution, for 20 years. Why is Mayfield suddenly the focus for closure?’
Councillor Anne Cross (Green County Councillor for Heathfield and Mayfield) said,”With these pressures on finances and the possible closure of Mayfield station on the table for 20 years, it appears that, only with the local election of a Green Councillor in place of a member of the conservative administration, closure is actively being considered. Closure of this station will undermine confidence in the Fire and Rescue Service across the rural north of the county at a time when we see unprecedented flooding and wildfires and the 2nd appliance is often used to back up others across the county.”
“One of the claims made against its viability is that it’s hard to recruit for, yet the only obvious attempt to recruit local firefighters is a faded banner over the station”
Councillor Maples said, ‘I am troubled that there’s only the one ‘keep it open’ option. Why three versions of closure to choose from, but no creative ideas for maintaining this important, much loved fire station?’
Councillor Cross said, ‘I urge people to respond to the consultation when it is published even though it is being held over the summer when consultations are the last thing on people’s minds– and make it clear to the Fire Authority and the government, the new government, just how much they value our firefighters and our local stations. We all know that our Fire Fighters are on the front line of climate change, in addition to the traditional fire and rescue service. Now is not the time for cuts.’
Watch Manager Neil Walter, with Councillor Anne Cross at Mayfield Fire Station in April