Conservative Fire Station Claims Exposed
Claims made by Windsor Conservatives in recent "In Touch" leaflets about the new Windsor fire depot are made up nonsense, that's the verdict from Windsor Liberal Democrats following a Freedom of Information Act response from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue.
The Conservative leaflets circulated in the Clewer North by-election stated:
"The area west of Windsor has more fires than the centre so we're investing in a new fire station there"
In response Windsor Liberal Democrats asked Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue for a break down of fires within the "Windsor Station Ground" for the most recent twelve month period for which figures were available. Their response which was as follows, showed that in fact the majority of fires occured nearer to the former St Mark's Road Fire Station, than the new Tinker's Lane Fire Depot. Almost as many fires occured within the council ward which housed the proper St Mark's Road Fire Station, than the whole of West Windsor put together:
"I refer to your Request for Information dated 31st August 2014 and our subsequent e-mails on this subject.
I am now pleased to be able to provide you with the number of Fires in the Windsor Fire Station Ground area by Wards for the Financial Year 2013/14:"
| Areas West of Royal Windsor Way / Imperial Road / Winkfield Road | No. of Fires | Areas East of Royal Windsor Way / Imperial Road / Winkfield Road | No of Fires | |
Bray CP | 1 | Castle Without Ward | 29 | |
Bray Ward | 5 | Datchet Ward | 2 | |
Clewer East Ward | 11 | Eton and Castle Ward | 5 | |
Clewer North Ward | 12 | Eton CP | 1 | |
Clewer South Ward | 2 | Old Windsor Ward | 13 | |
Winkfield and Cranbourne Ward | 1 | Park Ward | 8 | |
Upton Ward | 1 | |||
Total | 32 | Total | 59 |
In an earlier response to a second question in our request as to whether or not anyone had requested this information RBFRS told us:
"I can advise you however, that the information has not been provided to the Fire Authority Councillors and we have not received a request for this information."
It's clear from this information that the Conservatives didn't actually make any attempt to find out the facts.
Sources:
- Freedom of Information Act Request: RBFRS Request for Information No.2014-0156 - Statistics: Fires in West and Central Windsor - Sept/Oct 2014
- Windsor Conservatives "in touch" leaflet for Clewer North - July 2014
Note:
- We have re-ordered the wards in the table to facilitate easy comparison of the figures, from the table received in the FOI response. No figures have been amended and all information contained in the original is also contained in our table.