Exclusive: Trumpton Fire Station Faces Closure In New Year!

The Camberwick Green Newsshopper reports this morning that the Trumpton Fire Station is on a list of stations to be closed as a result of the Equality Bill being pushed by Labour's deputy leader, which will impose on all councils the duty to allocate fire protection on the basis of social class.

Trumpton has been classed as a 'middle class area', populated as it is by carpenters, florists, clockmakers and milliners, and so Captain Flack will be moving, along with his team (Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb) to a new station on the sprawling council housing estate on the far edge of Chigley.

The Mayor of Trumpton queried this move, pointing out that the move would place the fire station too far away to quickly serve known fire hazards such as Mickey Murphy the baker and Windy Miller's windmill, but officials were unmoved:

...ministers have admitted it also means fire chiefs will also have to prioritise the poor when drawing up plans.

The theory is poorer areas need better cover because they tend to suffer from a greater number of fires owing to the worse state of their homes and a lack of smoke alarms.

Lord Belborough of Winkstead Hall promised to raise the issue in the House of Lords, but it is considered that this will do little good at this late stage:

The decision to impose the same obligations on fire chiefs as councils was quietly slipped through last month when the Equality Bill was making its way through the Commons.

The Bill returns for its committee stage for three days in January, and officials say that Miss Harman is 'very determined' to see the legislation pass before the General Election.