Sadiq Khan Mayor of London
Navin Shah GLA Brent & Harrow
Labour Party Londonwide
Campaigns
London Fire Brigade
London’s most deprived areas hit hardest by Mayor’s fire cuts
New analysis has revealed that the most deprived wards in London will be hit hardest by the proposed cuts to the London Fire Brigade. Of the 100 most deprived wards in London 76 of them will have an increase in the time it takes for the first fire engine to arrive, and 82 of them will see an increase in the time for the second fire engine to arrive at an incident. I carried out the research and challenged Boris Johnson about the findings at Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall.
Of the 184 least deprived wards in London 38 (or 20%) will see an increase in the attendance time for the first fire engine to arrive at an incident. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is planning to cut 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighters. A public consultation is currently underway and will run until 17th June 2013.
This research shows that it is the poorest Londoners who will be hit hardest by the Mayor’s reckless cuts to our frontline fire service. The London Fire Brigade’s own plan admits there is a link between fire and deprivation. The increase in attendance times across London are bad enough, but it is truly scandalous that the poorest Londoners will be put at greater risk. All because the Mayor wants to cut the council tax by a penny a day.
I urge all Londoners to speak up and respond to the Mayor’s consultation and tell him what they think. His plans to cut 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighters are simply unacceptable. We presented him with a fully costed plan to keep them all open, but he has chosen to ignore us. While these increases in response times might appear small, across our city every second counts and can be the difference between life and death. It is more urgent than ever that Londoners tell the Mayor what they think. The Mayor might be prepared to take a risk with Londoners’ safety, but we are not. He must take Londoners for complete fools if he thinks he can get away with this.
Ends
Notes
- The attached table details the 100 most deprived wards in London and the increase in attendance times for first and second fire engines. Source for deprivation statistics: http://data.london.gov.uk/datastore/package/indices-deprivation-2010 and source for fire engine attendance times: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Documents/ward-impacts.pdf
- Mayor’s Question Time took place at City Hall from 10am on Wednesday 22nd May 2013. A webcast can be watched here: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london-assembly/webcasts
Published by NeonHorizon. Promoted by Keith Ferry on behalf of Navin Shah, both at 20 Byron Road, Harrow, HA3 7ST
Navin Shah is the Labour Party's candidate for the London Assembly seat of Brent and Harrow 2016