Fire Service Call Centre.

I sat on the Scrutiny Committee which asked questions concerning relocating the Fire Call Centre to Surrey.  Questions were put regarding the technology behind the call centre, and reassurances were given to Councillors that the Fire Call centre would not have the same problems for residents as Netley had when the police call centre relocated off-Island.  Other questions were put regarding response times, local knowledge and why we couldn't have a joint call centre for all emergency services operating within the Island.

All of the responses were answered by the Chief Fire Officer who passionately believes that relocating the call centre to Surrey is best for the Island and it's fire service...  

However given the views of residents, both Councillor Barry and I thought that this decision should be taken by the Full Council (i.e The Fire Authority), and the justification for making this decison should be made within the public arena.  Unfortunatly we were outvoted as all other members of this Scrutiny Committee were supportive of the Cabinet Member making this decision (and are members of the same political group). 

This is the reason why I consider the scrutiny structure fails to work. If you're going to fill politically proportioned Scrutiny Committees, why not do the same with cabinet positions.  What is wrong with all members being part of the decision making process?

At last nights Full Council meeting, members put together a motion so this debate could take place, but due to potential of cost implications within the Council the matter needed to be deferred until July 20th.

Although I've stated I'm reassured by the questions I've put, my decision is finely balanced and if a robust argument can be put forward against relocating this service to Surrey, I'm more than happy to put these forward during this debate and reconsider my current position.