Issue - meetings

The content of the Council's response to the Fire and Rescue Authority's Public
Consultation was approved.

The report was submitted by Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn

DECISION

The content of the Council's response to the Fire and Rescue Authority's Public
Consultation was approved.

DISCUSSION

It was reported that the Council's Leader and Deputy Leader had had a discussion with the Chief Fire Officer and Council members serving on the fire service board.  It was reported that the consultation had been open since July 2023 and would end on 30 September.

It was explained that originally there were four options as part of the consultation.  It was confirmed that one of those was to introduce an option where no change would be made, however, this option had now been disregarded. It was detailed that the other three options included having a day staffed station in Porthmadog and Dolgellau to increase and improve service provision. Attention was drawn to option 3 that included arrangements to close fire stations in Abersoch and Llanberis as they were on-call stations.

It was confirmed that the Council's draft response supported what was considered in options 1 and 2 that would improve services in Gwynedd and opposed option 3. It was also noted that the financial implications of the options was something for the Members to consider. 

In response to an enquiry about the impact of the Fire and Rescue Authority's decision on the Council, the Corporate Director noted that there was an increasing cost associated with option 1 of about 14% (approx. £1.4 million).  It was noted that a sum of circa £800,000 was associated with option 2. It was confirmed that the Council would need to find these sums as a contribution to the fire and rescue service, no additional funding would be provided by the Welsh Government.

Concern was expressed that the costs of the Fire and Rescue Authority do not appear on the Council tax bill details, as it was a levy that came from the Council's funds.   Consideration was given to finding a method to explain to residents that the cost of the Fire and Rescue Authority was included in their bill, once the Authority had come to a decision.

The intention to support option 1 and 2 in the consultation paper was welcomed.