Council leader shoulder to shoulder with firefighters

High profile support for the Fire Brigades Union demo outside the Municipal Buildings was provided by an array of other elected members who are deeply concerned at the prospect of the town's firefighting appliances being slashed by a third.

Under the controversial plan put together by the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (SFRS) Greenock stands to lose ten firefighter posts - but union reps believe that the final figure could be as high as 20.

They say the proposed changes pose a threat to the safety of staff and the public - while the former chair of Inverclyde's police and fire scrutiny panel, Councillor Tommy McVey, said it represented a 'risk to life'.

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In a tense exchange during the meeting, Councillor McCabe told SFRS area commander David McCarrey: “I would politely suggest that the fact you’ve got fire officers out in Clyde Square today protesting means that you’ve not taken your workforce with you, and to me that’s a bit of a failure.

“I would hope that the fire service, not just locally, regionally and nationally would reflect on that.

“We’re not seeing the withdrawal of labour at this point in time, we’re not seeing the threat of industrial action, but we’ve got firefighters on the street telling us they don’t believe these proposals are safe for our community or safe for their members.

“That’s not a good situation to be in and I would hope that whatever we decide today you relay that message back to your line managers.”

Mr McCarrey told the meeting: “In conjunction with all the planning, the data, the financial background, I’m ultimately responsible and that’s why I said right at the start that nobody takes this more seriously than me.

“Those firefighters are my responsibility and I do take that very seriously.

“I’ve been in and around Inverclyde for the last eight or nine years, it’s an area I’m very passionate about and it’s a service delivery model that I’m hugely passionate about, whether it’s on-call staff or full-time staff.

“I need to satisfy myself as the local senior officer that what is being proposed is safe, it’s proportionate and it’s consistent with what’s happening across Scotland and on this occasion I am.”

Multiple councillors expressed concerns that the ‘temporary’ proposals are being rushed through without elected officials being properly consulted.

SFRS bosses say they have identified Greenock Fire Station as a facility which can move to a new crewing model which supports its ongoing service review programme and new strategy around the use of high-reach appliances.

Under the proposals, Inverclyde’s aerial rescue pump vehicle would become a dedicated height vehicle crewed by two staff members, which in practice would lead to the displacement of ten roles from Greenock.

Councillor James Daisley told the meeting that his SNP group felt there was still a major risk posed to the area and said he and his colleagues had already taken action.

He revealed that they had written to Scottish Government Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown, to request a review on funding and to highlight that local members of the FBU felt ignored by fire chiefs.

Independent councillor Lynne Quinn said the proposals seemed ‘pretty serious’ for a 'temporary' measure and said that she didn’t feel as if the changes were in fact temporary.

Councillors unanimously agreed that panel chair, Councillor David Wilson, should write directly to SFRS bosses regarding the depth of concern.