PLANS for the Police and Crime Commissioner to take control of the Fire Authority in North Yorkshire have suffered a blow, after the county council formally announced it would not support Julia Mulligan’s preferred option.
Following legislation, PCCs can take over local Fire Authorities where the public and local authorities agree and support the idea.
Julia Mulligan said she wanted to adopt a new model which would allow her to oversee both North Yorkshire Police and the Fire and Rescue Service, in a move she claimed would save £6.6m over the next decade.
However, North Yorkshire County Council’s Executive has now said it would not support the proposal, and has recommended the representation model, which will see Mrs Mulligan become the 17th member of the fire authority.
Leader of NYCC Councillor Carl Les said he wanted to see a more gradual approach to changes and collaboration between the fire authority and the PCC.
He said: “The reason we support the representation model is that is it a stepped approach. ”
Mrs Mulligan said her proposals “were designed to try and speed up the pace and scale of change”, so it was very disappointing that the council had preferred an alternative option. She said: “I think the county council should have waited to hear the response of the public and the workforce. I’d like to reassure the public today that I will listen to what they have to say and I will take their views very seriously and any future decisions I make on this business case will take their views into consideration, unlike the county council.”
She said she was keen to speak to the public, police officers, firefighters and staff around North Yorkshire to explain her plans, but she was “disappointed” she had been refused entry to visit fire service sites by the Fire Authority.
But a spokeswoman for the Fire Authority said that Cllr Backhouse, the Fire Authority Chairman, said Mrs Mulligan was welcome to visit fire service sites, providing senior officers from the fire service could be present to put staff at ease and observe the discussion.
She said: “Cllr Backhouse did not refuse access but did refuse the request for the PCC to meet staff alone as he felt that this would be inappropriate.”
Mrs Mulligan said: “The Fire Authority are not letting me on site to directly answer the questions of staff. I think that’s wrong and I think the Fire Authority needs to reverse that decision and give their staff every opportunity to ask questions of me face to face. I believe firefighters and staff should be given the same opportunities to ask questions of me personally as I have afforded to the public during this consultation.
“I therefore ask the Fire Authority to reverse this decision with immediate effect.”
The Fire Authority has previously said the PCC’s business plan was not evidence which supported “an irreversible transfer of governance”, and instead suggested Mrs Mulligan become the 17th member of the organisation.
If Mrs Mulligan’s bid is not supported, an independent assessment could be undertaken by the Home Office to determine whether changes should go ahead.
Cllr Andrew Backhouse, chairman of the authority, previously said external reviews had “consistently confirmed that the authority has strong governance arrangements already”, which could be “further enhanced by the addition of the PCC on the Authority”.
Article produced using material from Craven Herald and York Press
