Thank you for asking me to speak at your rally today.Firstly I want to acknowledge the initiative of the Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) for alerting the community to the likelihood of Balmossie Fire Station being on the hit list once again. This was well before the launch of the consultation by the Fire & Rescue Board in late November 2009. Once again your members have stepped up to the plate and shown their commitment to maintain our fire and rescue cover as well as protecting their jobs.
Secondly, I want to say how privileged I feel to have stood with your members and supporters in solidarity, and it has to be said in the cold, at the three street campaigning events you held in my constituency, and of course on the march through the Ferry today. From Barnhill Shopping Centre in December to Brook Street, Broughty Ferry and Sainsburys in January.
Thirdly, I have been delighted to provide my support and reflect the views of the overwhelming majority of my constituents. Clearly people in Broughty Ferry appreciate the peace of mind that comes from having a properly resourced Fire and Rescue service to serve their community. It's one of our essential emergency services. Interestingly that must have been in the minds of the former members of the Broughty Ferry Burgh Council, who wisely insisted, nearly a hundred years ago, that one of the conditions for agreeing to the annexation of Broughty Ferry into Dundee was the provision by Dundee Council of a fire station in Broughty Ferry. This was enshrined in the 1913 Act of parliament that led to the inclusion of Broughty Ferry in Dundee. I think that 21st century residents in Broughty Ferry have shown that they have no intention of letting the successor authority, Tayside Fire and Rescue, off the hook.
Finally, I am pleased that there are politicians here today from outside the Ferry and the immediate area served by the fire station. Cynics might say that this is just because a general election is imminent. But I think it indicates very powerfully that it is now recognised that this is a Dundee not just a Broughty Ferry issue. Because if you reduce the number of fire appliances and fire crews based in the city, and Balmossie is based within the city boundary, you reduce the fire and rescue capability of the city as a whole. As well as primarily serving our area here in Broughty Ferry, our fire and rescue crews serve the wider city as 'super subs' when fire and rescue appliances are called out from other fire stations in the city.
So as the campaign comes to end and we await the decision of the Fire & Rescue Board, be assured that my Labour colleagues on the Fire & Rescue Board will continue to vote against any proposal that would downgrade Balmossie.
I think the public of Dundee East have shown that they recognise the vital importance of the Fire and Rescue service in their lives.
Stephen Hunter and the obdurate members of the Fire and Rescue Board should be in no doubt that the Broughty Ferry public, whom I represent, have demonstrated more than conclusively that this is not Save the FBU Balmossie Fire Station but Save OUR Balmossie Fire Station.
So as Obama would have said had he had time to join us today:
Can we save our Balmossie Fire Station? Let's hear it!
Yes we can!
