Save our Services in Surrey have launched a new petition calling on Surrey County Council to reverse its decision to half local fire and rescue services in Spelthorne. The current flooding, affecting tens of thousands of local people (including many of you) has shown the utter madness of cutting fire and rescue services in the area. Fire crews from both Spelthorne stations have been absolutely vital to the ongoing support and rescue activities and the campaign needs to highlight this and the need to defend our services.

WE ARE ASKING EVERYBODY TO:

1) FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES ASKING THEM TO SIGN AND SHARE

2) GO TO https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/flooding-shows-that-fire-service-cuts-are-a-mistake
AND SIGN THE PETITION IMMEDIATELY

3) GO TO www.sosis.org.uk AND ADD YOUR NAME TO THE MAILING LIST IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY ON IT.

4) SPREAD THE WORD ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER AND ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SITES.

We got 600 signatories on our previous online petition. We need many more than this if we are to make an impact.

We are also considering calling a major public meeting on the floods and the cuts. If you would be interested in helping to build for such a meeting and attending, please let us know.

Around a hundred protestors, including many firefighters, some local councillors, trade unionists and local residents, gathered outside County Hall in Kingston on 4th February to lobby the Cabinet - to try to persuade then against the proposal to half the fire safety provision in Spelthorne.

Sadly, the council cabinet went ahead, despite the protests, despite the 92% of local people being opposed and the 1200 signature petition presented by Save Our Services in Surrey at the meeting. Despite the serious safety concerns of the Fire Brigades Union voiced by the Surrey Secretary Richard Jones.

The decision will now have to be ratified by the full council meeting on 11th February and a business plan brought back to the Cabinet for final approval. We are continuing to fight against these proposals as:

1) We believe the consultation to have been flawed - there was no consultation over the current preferred option (5) to have an on-call fire appliance based at the new station.

2) There has not been a cost or risk analysis of the new option. The business plan has yet to even be drafted.

We will keep people informed here when we know any more. There are likely to be further protests so watch this space.