Consultation for plans to change Isle of Wight fire services
A fire service has revealed plans to merge and close stations which "are not required or currently used".Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service has launched a public consultation on potential changes to services on the island.It comes after the announcement of a new fire station in East Cowes.The proposed changes are part of the service's safety plan for 2025-30, outlining its goals for the next five years.
The plan is created by looking at different risks in communities, their potential impact and how the service could adapt to address them. In a statement, the service says it has identified ways to "rationalise operational response on the Isle of Wight".It has unveiled plans to combine Yarmouth and Freshwater fire stations, which would mean two fire engines could operate in the west of the island.There are also proposals to stop operational responses from Bembridge fire station.
'We will continue to be there'
The statement explained: "There has been no response from Bembridge since 2020 due to lack of available on-call firefighters. "During this time, Ryde fire station received investment to increase staffing to a full-time crew."The public consultation on plans will run until 29 July and there will also be community events to discuss the proposals in Bembridge and Yarmouth.The changes come as the fire service is testing the removal of less frequently used fire engines in four on-call stations in Romsey, Waterlooville, Petersfield and Lymington.There are also plans to introduce a new vehicle which would mean a reduction in 20 firefighter posts across Redbridge and Cosham, but the service has explained this would not result in redundancies.Chief fire officer, Neil Odin, said: "We are looking to make changes because we need to ensure that we have a modern, fit for purpose and efficient fire service. "The changes are about having the right resources in the right place to meet the identified risks in our communities. Public safety will always be our priority and, if you need us, we will continue to be there quickly, with the right people, vehicles and equipment."
You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
31 minutes ago
- The Sun
Make your dad feel extra special this Father's Day by sending him a message in The Sun on Sunday
THIS Sunday is Father's Day and we want to know why YOUR dad is the greatest. So if you want to send your dad – or the father figure in your life - an extra special message this Father's Day, now you can with the help of The Sun on Sunday. 1 Email us in your messages of love and appreciation – and we'll print a selection of them in this Sunday's paper. You can tell him why he is the greatest, send him a poem or simply say how much you love him.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Don't let a vocal minority silence Britain's ancient church bells
There used to be a tradition that ringing church bells would drive out evil spirits. Now it's the bells that are being driven out. The latest set of chimes to fall foul of complainers are in Mytholmroyd. It's a small West Yorkshire village, best known as the birthplace of Ted Hughes. Perhaps it was the bells of St Michael's Church that inspired the late Poet Laureate to write in one of his rhymes for children about a bell's 'clang of mumbling boom'. But that clang was far from mumbling for three residents who said they were being kept awake all night by the chimes, ringing every 15 minutes. A noise abatement order imposed on the bells means they now can't be rung at all, so for the first time in 100 years they have fallen silent. There have been similar ding dongs over church bells elsewhere in the past few years: in both Witheridge and Kenton in Devon, in Helpringham in Lincolnshire, and in Beith in Ayrshire, usually by people saying that chimes through the night in these rural neighbourhoods are ruining their sleep. As someone who lives in a city, used to police helicopters overhead, ice cream vans blaring their tinny tunes, trains rattling past, and crowds of students staggering home at night under the influence of numerous intoxicants, I have to say I do find the noise of the countryside rather disturbing. Here in the city, these noises are part of a constant soundscape. In the country, there is an enveloping silence, but then you will be jolted into wakefulness by a cockerel's piercing crow, or a huge piece of farm machinery rattling past, or a herd of cattle lowing their way to milking. But a church bell chime, surely, is in a minor key compared to these other rural interruptions? For me the sound of bells is, well, music to my ears. Despite the planes flying into Heathrow over my head and the police sirens blaring outside my door, I can still hear the sound of a bell nearby, which rings regularly to mark Divine Office being said in a local monastery as well as the Angelus at noon. On Sundays, a peal of bells sounds out at a nearby church, and on weekday evenings too you can hear the ringing, as the tower captain and his team practise Plain Bob Major or Grandsire Triples or one of those other extraordinary mathematical formulas, known as changes, that make up bell-ringing. But the kind of change we don't want is something so quintessentially English as bell-ringing to disappear because after a few people make a fuss, officialdom steps in. The bells of Mytholmroyd were silenced when just three people objected – but the 1,200 residents who wanted the chimes to continue had their petition ignored. It's a growing pattern: a few complaints put an end to chimes that had been loved by communities for generations. Yet there's more at stake here than bells. It sounds a death-knell for our tradition of going with what the majority want.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Family stunned to find their pet Joey the tortoise is actually a girl after 95 YEARS
A PET tortoise thought to be a boy for 95 years turned out to be a girl. Joey finally came out of her shell at a vet's examination shortly before her death from a stomach tumour last week. 2 The African spurred tortoise was bought from high street chain Woolworths in 1930 by Louise Dimmock, as a gift for son Alan. Joey spent the next nine decades being passed down through the family — ending up with Alan's granddaughter Lorraine Steward. The cabin crew trainee, 43, said: 'We always thought he was a boy until we took him to the vets to be examined before his death. 'We knew something was wrong as he wasn't taking his food. 'He had never needed to go to the vet before and it's difficult to check the gender. They were stunned he had done so well. 'They were examining him and revealed, 'I'm led to believe he's actually a girl'. 'We couldn't believe it. Maybe he was more of a Josephine than a Joey all this time. But after knowing him as a boy for 95 years, we're not going to change now.' Joey, who ate lettuce and strawberries, was well-known among locals in Whitwell, Herts. Lorraine added: 'We will all miss him greatly. He lived a simple life. He was very low maintenance and happy as anything.' 2 Giant tortoise found again after it was believed to be extinct for a century 21 PMs AND NINE POPES OVER her 95 years Joey never strayed any further than her home village, even surviving a German shell landing in the garden during World War Two. She also lived through: Twenty-one prime ministers. Five monarchs, stretching back to George V, left. Sixteen Presidents of the US. Nine popes. World War Two. Twenty-one England football managers — and one World Cup victory. And 22 Olympics.
