Morley Fire Station saved!

Morley Fire Station has been saved from closure following our long campaign. We have worked closely with local residents and the FBU to oppse the closure plan from Labour controlled West Yorkshire Fire Authority.  Although the closure plan is to be shelved we still have some concerns about the new staffing regime that will operate and will be looking for further assurances that community safety will not be put at risk. This may include scrapping the proposals for day time staffing - as proposed in the report - and going for a staffing sytsem called "Close Call". Close Call will mean staff are retained in or around the fire station for 24 hours a day instead of being on call which builds in delays for staff to get to the Station from home.

We led the campaign with  public meetings and the production of objection letters. The number of objection letters topped 2500 - a remarkable achievement with much of the credit going to Brian and Christine Guy  and the FBU.

What are we to make of this victory for People Power? It is a partial victory and we need to keep battling on the shift pattern front to prevent a risk to community safety. We need to accept some of the report but oppose the proposal for only part time staffing at Morley.

However it should give us the confidence to continue to battle with other plans and proposals - such as the Daisy Hill and Bruntcliffe Road housing developments as well as getting stuck in to opposing Labours plans for over 8000 housing units across the Morley wide area proposed in their LDF plan.

We continue to articulate local residents concerns and the victories for the joint campaigning with local communities are clear to see with the Knowle Manor closure plan being overturned, the LDF plan having more objections lodged to it from Morley than the rest of Leeds put together and the retention of Morley Fire Station. We follow no party line here - unlike local Labour Councillors. We put the local community at the heart of our decision making process. They decide - not party leaders who are all detached from the reality of local peoples lives.

The Fire Station victory is a clear lesson to us all that you don't have to accept the decision making of out of touch authorities. We can influence the outcome and we can protect local people from barmy decisions.

Here's to future campaigns!