Fire services set to disappear at night - High Court rules against Royal Borough in fire station closure issue

Written by Francis Batt - francisb@baylismedia.co.uk and published in Windsor Advertiser on Thu 19th Feb 2009

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Windsor's 24-hour fire service have suffered a bitter blow.

On Tuesday High Court judge Mr Justice McCoombe threw out a last ditch attempt by the Royal

Borough to block plans to shut the town's fire station at night.

He rejected Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council's argument that the consultation process had been flawed, destroying hopes that Berkshire Fire Authority's night closure plan would be delayed and possibly abandoned.

Shocked leader of the council David Burble could hardly contain his anger. He said: "If the fire authority carries on with this unpopular and, we believe, unsafe night-time closure of Windsor Fire Station, we will have no option but to think it doesn't sufficiently care about the views and safety of local people."

He said the council remained committed to keeping 24-hour-a day coverage at Windsor Fire Station and would fight to get it back even if the fire authority did shut the building at night. But he

admitted this would be hard to achieve while the existing authority ran the county's fire service.

The Berkshire Fire Authority boasts councillors from across the county on its board, but Windsor members remain in a small minority and have constantly been out-voted when they

fought to stop plans to downgrade their station. The Authority says it needs to save money to boost the fire service at Wokingham and can only do this by closing Windsor at night.

This week Iain Cox, Berkshire's Chief Fire Officer, welcomed the court's decision.

He said: "We have a responsibility to people across the whole of Berkshire to provide the most

effective service possible by using our resources where they are most needed."

He said the court's decision had vindicated the Authority's assessment of the risks to Windsor

and added: "This decision will allow us to move on and concentrate on delivering the results we

want to accomplish - a safer Berkshire."

This week Michael Rowley, the Fire Brigade's Union Windsor representative, insisted the fight

would go on.

He said: "This is just the end of one chapter of a long and open book."