At today’s (Wednesday) Mayor’s Question Time Boris Johnson was challenged over new figures that reveal 12 of the most deprived wards in Tower Hamlets will see an increase in the response time for the first fire engine to arrive at an incident.
The Mayor is still pushing ahead to close 10 other fire stations, cut 14 fire engines and 552 firefighters to pay for his 1penny a day council tax cut. The London Fire Brigade’s own plan admits there is a link between fire and deprivation.
The target response time for the first engine is 6minutes.
Bow East, the 21st most deprived ward in London, will see a shocking rise of 3 minutes 11 seconds, pushing the response time to 7 minutes 20 seconds and Mile End East, the 19th most deprived, will see an increase of 52 seconds. Bromley-by Bow, the 10th most deprived ward, will see an increase of 25 seconds.
Local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs said:
“The London Fire Brigade’s own plan admits there is a link between fire and deprivation. The increase in attendance times for Bow East, Mile End East and Bromley-by-Bow, where we recently saw a serious fire in the Donning Point tower block, are truly scandalous and will put the poorest residents at greater risk. All because the Mayor wants to cut the council tax by a penny a day.
“Boris Johnson’s cuts to the London Fire Brigade are going to see winners and losers and for over 170,000 residents in the most deprived parts of Newham they are going to be worse off. The public meeting in Tower Hamlets showed residents are fearful of the impact the safety cuts will have on where they live and work.How is this fair?
“I challenged the Mayor directly today about closing Bow fire station. Let’s hope he listens to our pleas on behalf of Londoners.
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