Saturday, September 15, 2012

The Sale of Fire Stations is Imminent --------- Sept 21st 2012 is D Day.

From reading between the lines of the papers to be presented to the Finance Committee of the West Yorkshire Fire Authority the above statement is sadly TRUE.
Below is an excerpt from the papers to be presented to the WYFRA finance committee to be held on the 21st September 2012. The full set of papers can be found HERE

..................................................................................................................................................................
The sale of these assets can take place as and when appropriate, dependant on
progress with land acquisition and the construction of new fire stations. There is
potential for prospective purchasers to negotiate an option to buy fire station sites at an agreed price prior to the fire station closing, with ownership transferring when the new fire station(s) are operational. 

Should a particular site attract favourable interest and a higher than anticipated
market price be offered for quicker occupation, this could influence the order in
which fire stations are closed and merged. Early marketing will give an indication of
interest and will assist in the planning process.
...................................................................................................................................................
Now let’s  see.......... which Fire Station will be sold first? Which site might get a higher than market price for a quicker occupation?   
Firecutscostlives members will put their combined pension pots on ................

OTLEY

 


As it is in the perfect place for the adjacent supermarkets currently nonexistent and much coveted Petrol Station. 
However the papers also state that the buyer will be allowed to gain planning permission prior to completion of the sale. So basically nothing ventured nothing gained – the gain being a money spinning Petrol Station in your carpark that will make you much more attractive to affluent Otley shoppers. A long term financial gain for the private sector made at the expense of asset stripping our much loved and needed publicly owned fire & rescue service.

The citizens of Otley vociferously opposed the closing of the station in the round of cuts in December 2011........... and it wasn’t a few hundred objections lodged,  it ran into  thousands ......... now if those  people could now focus their considerable force on opposing any potential planning applications for the Fire Station site it would put a considerably sized spanner in business plans of WYFRA /WYFRS.

For information below we enclose the email addresses and contact details of the local authority councillors currently on the finance committee.................... Send them an email, ring them up, use a good old fashioned pen and paper if you prefer. But tell them LOUD and CLEAR you will oppose the closure and sale of this station and any others........ that the closure of any Fire Stations is fundamentally wrong.
LabourConservativeLiberal Democrat
Cllr J Dodds 
Bradford District
5 Southmere Drive
Great Horton
Bradford
BD7 4EA
Tel 01274 576624
Cllr P Harrand
Leeds District
8 Overdale Avenue
Leeds
LS17 8TE

Phone:  (0113) 268 9844
To email Peter click here  
Cllr C Burke
Kirklees District
23 Birchwood Close Lindley Huddersfield HD3 3GZ
Tel 01484 643953
To email Cahal click here
Cllr R Grahame
Leeds District
41 Swardale Green
Swarcliffe
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS14 5HJ

Phone:  0113 260 7697
Email Ron - click here

Cllr L Holmes
Kirklees District
Crown Court Buildings
Princess Street Huddersfield
Tel 01274 921517
To email Lisa click here


Cllr P Wardhaugh
Calderdale District
Hob Cottage
Hollin Lane
Norland
Sowerby Bridge
HX6 3QP
Telephone: 01422 839683
To email Peter click here
Cllr A Hussain (Vice chair)
Leeds District
66 Easterley Road
Leeds
LS8 3AN

Bus. phone:  0113 247 6927
To email Arif Click here  
Cllr A Taylor
Wakefield District
C/O Town Hall
Wood Street
Wakefield
WF1 2HQ

Phone:  01924 270729
To email angela click here
Cllr B Selby
Leeds District
4 Primley Park Road
Leeds
LS17 7HS

Phone:  (0113) 269 5102
To email Brian click here

Cllr B Smith (Chair)
Calderdale District
144 Cousin Lane
Illingworth
Halifax
HX2 8HP

Telephone: 01422 247714
To email Bryan Click here


Cllr G Thornton
Bradford District
43 Leyburn Grove
Shipley
BD18 3NR
Tel 01274 770869
To email Gill click here


Our next post will be about the potential time bomb of an ageing workforce in Fire & Rescue............using this very simple calculation below.

No Recruitment of Operational Fire Fighters since 2009   +   Ageing staff  
 =
                        Disaster in the Pipeline        
                                                    
Oh but hang on,,,,,,,,,,,,,, silly us,  there are exceptions to every rule around recruitment embargoes and  we will tell you all about that to on Monday.

And last and most definitely least, we have updated our funnies page   Click here  – so please try and leave the site today with a smile on your face.We don’t want this site to be doom and gloom  but informational and inspirational ,,,,, so have a chuckle but please don’t forget to email the finance committee councillors and tell them what you think. 
So, enjoy your weekend and to show we at firecutscostlives are not the dinosaurs WYFRS think we are,  we will sign off with  a  “laters baby! “ and see you all  Monday.



The Firecutscostlives Team



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds about right - but what they have forgotten is that once approved planning applications are valid for FIVE YEARS. That means a developer could buy in the current climate a fire station, having got the approval for say flats before purchase, buy it cheap, leave it to fall down and hey presto we have 10 (and possibly 22) eyesores on our hands. And the irony is i be then WYFRS have to come along and do a derelict buildings assesment.

Sarah Covell said...

Leeds city council have supposedly had words with the fire service about keeping the sites "tidy" but all empty buildings are today a magnet for theives and anti social behaviour, We can ask the other authorities and post their responses