Firefighters raise concerns with local politicians

Assembly Member Joyce Watson and Brecon Town Councillor Matthew Dorrance have met Powys firefighters to raise concerns about volunteer recruitment in the county.

At the meeting with Fire Officer David Sheppard at Brecon Fire Station on Wednesday (6 September), the local representatives were given an update on the decision to replace full-time, frontline emergency crews with retained firefighters in three Powys towns.

In a bid to save £1.2 million, Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service is redeploying 21 firefighters in Newtown, Llandrindod Wells and Brecon to work in the community. Their role will be filled by part-time, retained firefighters, who will respond to 999 calls and major incidents.

Commenting on the controversial plans, Joyce Watson AM (Mid and West Wales) said:

“Despite the fire service’s assurances that response times will not be affected, I am concerned that in a rural area like this, where small businesses might be reluctant or unable to employ staff on flexible arrangements, recruiting enough part-time firefighters to cover emergencies could prove to be a real problem.

“In that case, response times and lives could be put at risk.”

Cllr Dorrance, who represents St John Ward, added:

“Our full-time and retained firefighters do an incredible job and deserve our wholehearted support. It is regrettable that there will be a greater reliance on voluntary goodwill, and the situation must be closely monitored to ensure that the public, and fire crews themselves, are not put at risk for the sake of saving money.”

Mrs Watson and Cllr Dorrance also discussed the successful Brecon Young Firefighters (YFF) scheme.

YFF started five years ago and is open to young people aged 13 to 17. Training includes operational drills, first aid, fire safety education and leadership.

In May, nine members of Brecon Young Firefighters became the first young people from the scheme to gain the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s award. They are working towards their silver award this year.

Remember, Remember the 1st of September

Brecon Town Councillor Matthew Dorrance is urging Brecon residents to take advantage of the chance to preview the changes to local refuse collections which will be introduced from 3^rd October.

The change in the collection system will see the local authority reduce the volume of waste it sends to landfill and will see Powys residents encouraged to recycle more in line with the guidelines that have been set for local councils.

Matthew Dorrance said ‘‘Brecon residents will be able to see the new bins and caddies that will be provided by the local authority at the Guild Hall on Thursday 1^st September from 9 – 5pm, and there will be someone from Powys County Council on hand to discuss the changes.

‘’The change in the way our refuse is collected is quite significant and I am urging local residents to go and see the new bins and caddies.

“The local authority is also offering a smaller than standard wheeled bin in addition to assistance with managing the large volume of bins for those who may need help - but there are forms that need to be completed to take advantage of this”.

The Rent Rip Off

Tenants living in council houses in Powys face an extra 5.2% on their rent bills from 4th April and that's down to the Lib Dem and Independent board members.

I've just launched a petition asking the council to think again on this one. Powys already has the most expensive social housing rents of all the Welsh authorities that maintain a housing stock and in contrast to the awful decision made by Powys, Pembrokeshire have opted for an increase that's 3% lower on their already cheaper rents.

Labour's board member has led the opposition to what can only be called a crippling rent rise and I am pleased to be supporting my Labour group throughout the county when they stand up for council tenants.

We already have a generation that are unable to get on the property ladder and the Lib Dems and Independents in Powys are pricing them out of social housing too.

I have already spoken to a number of people who are worried about how this will impact on them. They are already having to make their wages stretch further than ever before, and rightly so they are worried. But it's Labour in Powys that are the opposition to this increased burden on hard working people and Labour that will continue to stand up for them.

Fish and Chip Paper

While at Labour's conference I did what most delegates did. Fish n Chips on the sea front.

Its amazing what you see.

For example, whilst engaged in a spot of people watching I told myself how unfortunate it was for the gentleman on the other side of the road to look like Andrew Lansley.

In fact, this man was Andrew Lansley.

Why was he at Labour Party conference?

Well earlier that day, Ed Miliband launched a stinging attack on the Tory-led plans for the NHS in England that put more than one bee in Lansley's bonnet.

Ed is right to make the contrast between Labour's NHS in Wales and the mess the Tories and their Lib Dem pals are going to make of the NHS in England. Lansley's actions are desperate. A man trying to hide the truth by hurtling accross Wales to give his opinion outside Labour's conference venue.

Its obvious that senior Tories fear Ed Miliband. And they should do.