At last night’s Isle of Wight full council meeting (catch up with our live coverage), members voted to accept the outline business case for a new combined Fire Authority with Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth.
Not to be confused with the proposed Fire Service revamp – which goes to Cabinet next month – council members voted 23 in favour, eight against and two abstained on the vote that would see the development of a full business case and a 12 week public consultation on the plans.
The paper was presented by the Cabinet member responsible, Cllr Gary Peace (Con), who claimed the changes would lead to increased resilience and capacity, safer communities and efficiency in scale.
Representation on combined fire authority
Cllr Peace also explained the Isle of Wight would have one seat on the combined Fire Authority, equal to that of Portsmouth and Southampton.
However, Hampshire, as the largest authority, would have eight members.
Brodie: Make it a full council decision
Cllr Geoff Brodie (Ind Lab) argued the final decision on the changes should be made by all members of the council, not just the Cabinet members.
The legal officer, Justine Thorne, and the CEO John Metcalfe both advised that would not be constitutionally acceptable as the Cabinet members are the Fire Authority and therefore must make the decision.
LGA: Strong arguments to delay
Former Island Independent leader of the council, Cllr Ian Stephens (Ind), who sits on Local Government Association (LGA) committees, proposed an amendment to delay the decision.
He explained to members of the council that fire authorities across the country were going to be subject to inspections by the Home Office between April and August. Cllr Stephens argued the outcome of inspections of the other fire authorities should be awaited before a decision to merge with them is made.
OnTheWight has had sight of advice from the LGA’s Principal Policy Adviser, in which he states:
“There are strong arguments for delaying any decision on merging the IOW Service with Hants until after the outcome of the inspections, when any recommendations from HMICFRS about both services can be considered as part of the discussions about the next steps.”
Amendment: Shouted down
The amendment put forward by Cllr Stephens to maintain the existing position and delay work on the business case pending the outcome of the investigations was shouted and in some cases laughed down by Conservative councillors.
Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr Dave Stewart (Con), argued that the public did not need to know the results of the inspectorate’s visit, but would have a comprehensive business case to consider.
“We’re not dithering,” he said several times during the course of the discussions.
Cllr Andre (Ind) said the public consultation should be shaped by all the evidence of work being carried out now at a national level.
The amendment proposed by Cllr Stephens fell with just 12 votes for and 23 against.
People “did not want it”
Cllr Abraham (Con), who has previously sat as a Cabinet member responsible for the fire service, referred back to former plans to merge the Fire Authority, driven, he said by the former Labour government.
He said the people of the Island had clearly spoken and “did not want it”.
Heated discussions
At times the meeting became heated, with Chairwoman of the council, Cllr Lora Peacey-Wilcox, calling order, after Cllr Wayne Whittle launched into what she called ‘personal attacks’ on members of the opposition.
Following the public consultation, the Cabinet would make their decision, with the final approval for the merger made by the Secretary of State.
Article edits
15:00: Updated headline to include ‘to explore’
