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 21^st September 2012. The full set of papers can be found HERE

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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.

Labour	Conservative	Liberal Democrat
Cllr J Dodds  Bradford District 5 Southmere Drive Great Horton Bradford BD7 4EA Tel 01274 576624 To email Joanne click here	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