We have been working together to develop the best way of providing our emergency cover in the future, ensuring we can be in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills.

Based on our modelling work and on our own professional experience, we have explored a variety of different scenarios and through a series of pre-consultation workshops, seminars and focus groups we have gathered insights and feedback from a wide range of people, including staff and representative bodies, members of the public, council representatives, local vulnerable groups and members of our Fire and Rescue Authority.

These sessions were used to look at exactly what was important to consider in improving our emergency cover services across North Wales.

We then carried out further stakeholder sessions comprising a wide cross section of people to help us develop a refined list of potential options for the

Staff

“Extremes of weather may dictate a
necessity for greater wildfire response.”

“Negative impact on staff of changing duty
systems or station location - staff losses.”

“Be more bold and communicate our value for
money and don’t accept budget restrictions.”

Local and national external senior leaders

“Are other funding streams available
from Welsh Government?”

“Understanding on if the Emergency Cover
review is driven by financial pressures?”

“Take out inefficiencies.”

“5-year medium term budget plan requested.”

“Formally designate that on a daily basis
coverage would be located according to risk.”

“A reduction in Wrexham’s appliances has previously been
controversial and has the potential to be controversial again.”

Staff representative bodies

“Can staff be transferred or redeployed to
other fire and rescue services?”

“Opinion of employees is important.”

Future Risks

“Increased fires with increased populations.”

“Cuts to fire and rescue services would be seen as the fault of local Council.”

Focus groups held online

“Do you consult with strategic planning in regards to
increase in population and houses within the community?”

“Who will the consultation be aimed at, how it will take place
and what it will look like?”

“Being open and transparent throughout the process and
not the final design will be key during the consultation.”

“What are the potential risks and effect on preventative work?”

“The Service needs to be looking at prevention work with
current landlords and people within the communities.”

“Regarding the volume of incoming African people to the
area, especially in Wrexham - can prevention work for these
people be considered within the emergency cover review?”

Further stakeholder cross section session

What is important to you when we are making
decisions regarding the services we offer?

Are there any other areas of feedback or considerations in relation to our
pre-consultation on the Emergency Cover Review you wish us to consider?

Discounting one of the options following our pre-consultation work

One of the options involved no change, staying as we are and accepting the availability risk.

However, on the basis that this option does not meet the criteria of the Emergency Cover Review for a fair, sustainable and equitable emergency response across the communities of North Wales, this option is not being taken forward for public consultation.

You can access a PDF of the full consultation document in PDF here.