So they did it..

The Hertfordshire County Councillors voted on Tuesday (28 March) to close down Radlett Fire Station. The vote was 39 to 34 which was close but not close enough to save it. All the other elements of the "Community Safety Plan" were also voted through - including the closure of Bovingdon Fire Station, reducing overnight cover at Watford and getting rid of one of the three high-lift platforms and stationing the remaining two at Watford and Stevenage.

I joined the Radlett firemen and the Save Radlett Fire Station campaigners on a special Routemaster double decker bus to travel to County Hall in Hertford to attend the Council meeting. We had the overt support of our local police too, with a blue light escort part of the way!

The voting was a travesty of democracy. There had been over 3,000 letters and emails objecting to the proposals (nearly 2,000 objecting to the Radlett proposals alone). Apart from the individual residents, such letters also came from the Parish and Borough Councils and from our MP, James Clappison. But the Councillors took absolutely no notice whatsoever of the objections. It came down to mindless party politics. The opposition Labour, Lib-Dem and (lone) Green Councillors asked some searching questions about many aspects of the Plan, without getting any sensible answers in most cases. But then the "donkey" vote of the majority Conservative Councillors just voted for every aspect of the Plan regardless. With the honourable exception of Martin Saunders (who represents Radlett) and his counterpart from Bovingdon, who both made principled stands against the closures.

But there is a small light at the end of the tunnel. Instead of forcing the fire station to close at the end of the month (today!), it was given a three month reprieve to enable the Parish Council to come up with some funding to keep it open. Of course, the Parish Council can't actually run a fire station legally, but there is probably some waay it can part fund the service (I hope so anyway, as do most of the local residents I'm sure).

There is a meeting tonight of the Save Radlett Fire Station Committee - I hope they come up with something...

The Save Radlett Fire Station campaign continues..

I have received details from the Chief Fire Officer's staff of how many letters and emails they received during the "consultation" period. There were 3,034 letters and email plus three petitions in total. Of these, no less than 1,893 letters and emails related to the proposals to close Radlett Fire Station, plus a petition signed by 431 people strongly opposing it.

A grand effort by the local community, but will it be enough to persuade our elected representatives that they should vote against it? We shall see, but not until the eleventh hour as the vote has been postponed until 28 March...

Parking is a perennial problem in Radlett. There is a huge car park behind the main shops (Newberries Car Park) but many people either don't know it is there or don't use it because they will then have to walk a few feet to the shops. There are also parking bays in front of the shops but these are full much of the time. Some are looked after by the local council but others are privately owned by shops and restrictions on the latter are rarely enforced.

It has all been chaos for some years as the Police simply withdrew from enforcing parking restrictions and the local council (Hertsmere) had to get legal enforcement powers before it could take over. This took some two and a half years.

But the new regime started at the end of January. You can park for free for one hour either in front of the shops or in Newberries Car Park. The second hour costs 50p in front of the shops but 35p in Newberries. You have to move after two hours in front of the shops but can stay in Newberries all day if you want (and are prepared to pay for it).

Wardens are making short random visits and are now issuing tickets. I largely approve of this because I think it is good to ensure a flow of cars to enable more people to use the local shops. the alternative will be that people will do all their shopping elsewhere, our local shops will close and we will have a high street full of estate agents, take-ways and hair salons. On refelction, we are already on the way to this but we still do have good local food shops like a greengrocers, two butchers and several shops selling baked goods. But we also have a Tesco Express which has proved a killer on many high streets..... More about that soon!

My hackles were raised by an article in the Borehamwood Times on 3 February 2006. It reported the results of a MORI survey conducted on behalf of Hertsmere Borough Council and included comments by a local politician in Borehamwood that people there lost out on funding from Hertsmere in favour of the other areas of the Borough, including Potters Bar, Bushey - and Radlett!

I therefore sent a very long response to this, only part of which was edited into a letter published in the current (10 February edition of the paper).

For the record, here is my full response:

Tommy,

I read your article in the 3 February edition of the Borehamwood Times about the MORI survey of Hertsmere with great interest.

I am a member of the Hertsmere Panel surveyed by MORI and have complained on a number of occasions to both MORI and Hertsmere about the inherent bias in many of the questions. I live in Radlett and the questions do not always make sense for residents of the Parish of Aldenham as many of our services are actually run by the Parish Council rather than Hertsmere.

For example, one survey had questions about Parks and leisure facilities (do you think they are excellent, very good, good, Ok or poor - that sort of thing). If I answered "very good" it would be reflected as a "Very Good" for Hertsmere when it actually has nothing to do with them.

And this leads me on to the astonishing claims you quoted by Leon Reefe that Borehamwood loses out to other areas including Radlett in benefitting from Hertsmere's spending. In the case of Radlett this is absolute rubbish - quite the opposite is true. Aldenham Parish residents pay disproportionately into Hertsmere (because the majority of houses are above the "average" Council tax band) and receive very little in return. We also then pay the highest Parish Council tax in the Borough because it is our Parish Council that actually runs many of the things run elsewhere by Hertsmere.

Some examples:

Let's start with leisure and sports facilities. Over the past few years, Hertsmere has built or rebuilt sports centres and swimming pools in Borehamwood, Potters Bar and Bushey, (but nothing in Radlett) at a total cost of tens of millions of pounds. Each year these cost several hundreds of thousands to run, to which we contribute disproportionately but get no benefit here. And then we pay the Parish Council to run our own parks and leisure facilities (which do not run to a sports centre or swimming pool of course). And, worst of all, there is no compensatory payment by Hertsmere to Aldenham PC to cover the costs which would otherwise fall to the Borough Council.

Theatre : There has been a lot of fuss about the Radlett Centre and why Borehamwood hasn't got a theatre. The RC was an initiative of Aldenham Parish Council and was eventually financed by the Parish Council and the County Council with a non-cash contribution by Hertsmere (a land swap). Its annual running costs are met from rentals and sales of tickets plus an annual subsidy from Aldenham Parish Council (working out to about £35 per household in the Parish). If Borehamwood had a new theatre, would Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council and residents agree to a similar arrangement?

Going through your paper this week here are a number of other examples directly relevant to current stories:

Parking. Borehamwood residents are reportedly complaining that the free parking period in the Borehamwood Shopping Park is restricted to two hours. Well, in Radlett it is only one hour and we had to bombard Hertsmere with objections to get this as they originally tried to make it 30 minutes. And, on top of this, Hertsmere has blackmailed Aldenham Parish Council to pay them £10,000 per year in "compensation for lost revenue" for that first hour in the main car park (Newberies Car Park, behind the main shops in Watling Street). How much does Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council pay for the "lost revenue" from Borehamwood car parks?

Citizens' Advice Bureau : Borehamwood residents are complaining that Hertsmere has reduced its grant to the BW CAB. Well, Hertsmere refuses to fund Radlett's CAB at all and it is therefore funded by Aldenham Parish Council instead.

Teenagers want facilities to use their bikes. Yes, a ramp was provided last Summer in Phillamore Recreation Ground. And, although it belongs to Hertsmere and Radlett is part of Hertsmere, they made the Parish Council "rent" it at a cost of several thousands of pounds.

Recycling: You will know from recent correspondence that Hertsmere's record on recycling is very poor. However, they have decided to do something about it and have appointed "area managers" - for Borehamwood, Potters Bar and Bushey. What about Radlett?

Radlett Fire Station. As you are aware, the proposed closure of Radlett Fire Station has provoked a considerable out-cry here (over 2,000 letters of protest have been sent to Herts Fire Service). But Hertsmere has only reluctantly joined in the protests, not because of Radlett but because of the adverse effect it would have on Borehamwood.

Radlett railway station. The station is being run down compared with others on the line. Radlett has been left out of the Thameslink 2000 project and Hertsmere simply doesn't seem to care, refusing to join in objections.

Grants: I am involved in a number of voluntary organisations here in Radlett. Whenever they apply for grants from Hertsmere they are invariably turned down while their Borehamwood counterparts get funding..

And finally, I burst out laughing at the comment you quoted by Leon Reefe that Borehamwood is "the capital" of Hertsmere! Since when did Hertsmere have - or need - a "capital"? Let's face it, Hertsmere was thrown together from all the little pieces of Hertfordshire that were left over when the Districts were being drawn up and Borehamwood happens to be the place where their offices are located. There is no logic in joining Potters Bar with Borehamwood. Bushey would more logically be linked to Watford (or perhaps joined again with Aldenham in the "Watford Rural Council" that existed before Hertsmere). But, for the moment we are stuck with it. Maybe the real solution would be for Hertsmere to be much more open about exactly what money it collects from each area and where it spends it so we can all see where it really goes?

regards,

Clive Glover

Radlett

Bad news on the Fire Station. It appears that a group of Hertfordshire Councillors have concluded that there is no reason to keep it open. Their recommendation will be sent to a meeting of the whole Council at the end of March, just days before any such closure would come into effect.

In making this recommendation, the Councillors have ignored the views of the people who elected them. I have asked the Council exactly how many letters, emails or petitons they received during the consultation, how many were in favour of closing the Fire Station and how many opposed. Their reply was that they are still counting them! I will be rather surprised if it is anything less that 99.9% opposed, but we shall see..

The issue on everyone's mind is the future of Radlett's Fire Station. It is threatened with closure as part of a "modernising" plan which involves saving money. Radlett is one of only a handful of fire stations within Hertfordshire which is run by part-time firefighters. This makes it cheap to run (£90,000 per annum) and easier to close as the firefighter's union won't make such a fuss about laying off part-time staff. The saving is trivial for a community such as this - less than £3 per household per annum, which everyone here would be happy to pay to keep our local firefighters.

However, the politicians didn't take into account the real community spirit in this village. There are "Save Radlett Fire Station NOW!" signs everywhere and over 2,000 households (out of a total of around 3,000) have personally written to the Fire Chief to object to the plans. Their main concern is the time it would take in future for a fire engine to get to a fire here in Radlett or the surrounding rural areas. The Fire Chief's computer "proves" that an engine will get here in a few minutes but anyone who is familiar with the traffic congestion around here at certain times of the day knows this is problematic to say the least. Another issue is that it is policy for at least two fire engines to be on hand before they can tackle a residential fire. At present, the Radlett crew back up the Borehamwood (three miles away) crew in Borehamwood more than 100 times a year. The Borehamwood crew similarly back up Radlett for fires here (about 30 per year). If Radlett closes, Borehamwood will be out on its own with no backup crews within 10 miles.

The decision on closing the Radlett Fire Station was to be made by Hertfordshire County Councillors this month (February) but it has been postponed until the very last minute - at the end of March. This may mean that a deal is on the cards as the proposed closure date is 1 April 2006.

Further details about the campaign to save our Fire Station can be found here
The official line from Herts Fire Service is also worth a read here