People in Chester and Ellesmere Port will be able to have their say on a draft plan put forward by Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The events will take place at Sainsburys in Great Boughton on Friday and at Asda in Ellesmere Port on Monday 2 November when views will be sought on the service’s integrated risk management plan for 2016/17.

The overall consultation runs until Wednesday December 31 with comments being sought from the public, other organisations and members of staff.

The draft plan proposes to continue with the emergency response programme outlined in previous plans that the service has consulted on but comments are also invited this year on a number of other subjects.

These include:

  • The Cheshire Fire Authority’s proposal to increase its share of council tax by 1.99% in 2016/17
  • Proposals to join up Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service’s support functions with Cheshire Constabulary including moving into a shared HQ at the existing Constabulary HQ site in Winsford.
  • The service says that while each organisation would keep its own identity, frontline emergency response services and governance arrangements, many support services could be delivered by a single team from a shared headquarters site.
  • Transforming home safety assessment visits into ‘Safe and Well’ visits which would incorporate some basic health checks.

The visits would be likely to focus on preventing falls, providing cancer screening information and drug, alcohol and smoking cessation support and referral. In addition, the service would also support those who have recently been discharged from hospital.

Mobilising fire crews to cardiac incidents in some areas to assist the North West Ambulance Service.

If approved the scheme would see both services being mobilised, whoever reaches the casualty first will start providing treatment and once the patient is stabilised they will be taken to hospital by ambulance.

Delivering annual savings of £2m a year through efficiencies.

Proposals to develop the service would see the launch of the new fire station at Powey Lane at the approach to the A5117 near the M56 using the second fire engine from Chester.

The foam and environmental protection units at Ellesmere Port, the incident response unit from Chester and a high volume pump based in East Cheshire would also be transferred to the new station.

Full details of the plan can be seen on the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service web site.

What do you think of the proposals? Let us know in the comments below