Tayside Fire and Rescue’s Dundee control room could be swallowed up by Tayside Police under plans to streamline services, with the loss of up to 22 fire service jobs.
Staff at Macalpine Road were left shell-shocked after being told by a senior fire officer about the proposal to close their control room and move operations to Tayside Police headquarters at Bell Street.
Fire Brigade Union Scottish regional secretary Jim Malone said he was told staff were informed of the plan by deputy chief fire officer Alasdair Hay.
Ken Lyall, chairman of Tayside Fire and Rescue Joint Board and Ian Mackintosh, Tayside Police Joint Board chairman, confirmed discussions about the merger had taken place but stressed no decisions had been made.
Mr Lyall said, “Tayside Fire and Rescue is in negotiations with Tayside Police and the local authorities to see how they can share services to improve services but also make efficiency savings.
Mr Mackintosh added, “I would be being less than honest if I said we weren’t looking at it but no decisions have been made.”
The proposal will be presented to community safety minister Fergus Ewing at a crunch meeting today.
Mr Lyall said, “This is jumping the gun somewhat because no formal decisions have been made.”Keep services local”He added, “We want to keep services local and are working with Tayside Police and the local authorities to try to achieve this. But I must stress, discussions about merging services are at a very early stage and we are quite a long way off making any firm decisions.
“We may not even be allowed to work with Tayside Police because the number of forces may be reduced. Nothing has been decided so there is no reason for any undue concern.”
He continued, “We are meeting with Fergus Ewing on Friday where we will present our ideas about merging services to him. We want to show him what we are trying to do locally to reduce the budget.
“The meeting will see views from all sides put on the table so we will know a little more tomorrow. Until we get firm direction from the Scottish Government, we have to try and make our own savings.”
The proposal to centralise control rooms at Bell Street comes as the Scottish Government considers a range of different options, including merging the country’s eight brigades into a single Scotlandwide force, to save money.
Mr Mackintosh was also at pains to stress the early nature of the discussions.
He said, “We are looking at how services can be shared and where money can be saved while maintaining efficiencies, but it will only happen if we can maintain a highquality service with a financial benefit.”No decisions made yetHe added, “It is quite right for one of the senior fire officers to talk to his staff about the possibility of merging operations but no decisions have been made yet. It will have to go to the relevant boards before final decisions are made.”
If the merger goes ahead Macalpine Road’s 22 staff five staff for each of the four watches as well as two controllers could be affected.
An angered Mr Malone said, “I was told that the deputy chief fire officer visited the control room today and intimated they would merge with Tayside Police’s control room at Bell Street.
“The FBU feels this would hand over control of Tayside Fire and Rescue to Tayside Police.
“The control room workers will have been quite shocked to hear this because plans to amalgamate control rooms were abandoned in December, 2007.
“We know Mr Stephen Hunter, the chief fire officer, is keen for this merger to happen but the FBU doesn’t want individual brigades making announcements prior to the government announcing its plans.
“It’s premature to make any announcement before decisions have been made at the highest level and all this does is unsettle the current workforce for no apparent reason.”
“The meeting will see views from all sides put on the table so we will know a little more tomorrow. Until we get firm direction from the Scottish Government, we have to try and make our own savings.”
The proposal to centralise control rooms at Bell Street comes as the Scottish Government considers a range of different options, including merging the country’s eight brigades into a single Scotlandwide force, to save money.
Mr Mackintosh was also at pains to stress the early nature of the discussions.
He said, “We are looking at how services can be shared and where money can be saved while maintaining efficiencies, but it will only happen if we can maintain a highquality service with a financial benefit.”No decisions made yetHe added, “It is quite right for one of the senior fire officers to talk to his staff about the possibility of merging operations but no decisions have been made yet. It will have to go to the relevant boards before final decisions are made.”
If the merger goes ahead Macalpine Road’s 22 staff five staff for each of the four watches as well as two controllers could be affected.
An angered Mr Malone said, “I was told that the deputy chief fire officer visited the control room today and intimated they would merge with Tayside Police’s control room at Bell Street.
“The FBU feels this would hand over control of Tayside Fire and Rescue to Tayside Police.
“The control room workers will have been quite shocked to hear this because plans to amalgamate control rooms were abandoned in December, 2007.
“We know Mr Stephen Hunter, the chief fire officer, is keen for this merger to happen but the FBU doesn’t want individual brigades making announcements prior to the government announcing its plans.
“It’s premature to make any announcement before decisions have been made at the highest level and all this does is unsettle the current workforce for no apparent reason.”