South East London Fire Stations Under Threat

Tomorrow (Wednesday 7th November) firefighters from all over the country will be converging on London for a lobby of parliament in protest against cuts to the fire brigade. In London, a leaked report due to be considered by the London Fire Authority on 22 November recommends the closure of 17 stations with the loss of 600 jobs. South London will be particularly badly hit - local stations on the closure list include:

- New Cross (Lewisham borough);
- Downham (Lewisham borough);
- Peckham; (Southwark borough)
- Southwark (Southwark borough)
- Woolwich (Greenwich borough);
- Clapham (Lambeth borough).

It goes without saying that this will put lives at risk - by definition the further fire engines have to travel to the scene of a fire, the longer it will take to get there.

A key figure in the decision about London fire brigade cuts is South London Conservative James Cleverly, the Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority as well as leader of the London Assembly Conservative Group (he is the Member for Bexley and Bromley). Having failed to get elected in Lewisham as a councillor, mayor and MP, we hope he's not going to take his revenge by closing down fire stations - at the same time as some of his party colleagues are planning to close down the Accident & Emergency department in Lewisham Hospital (where incidentally Cleverly was born). I'm sure it's just a coincidence that all of the proposed South London closures are in Labour boroughs.