Fire crews begin their last emergency Christmas cover at Bow fire station in London’s East End this week after Tower Hamlets council lost the battle in the High Court against fire brigade cuts.
The fire-station in Parnell Road is one of 10 across London being axed on January 9 after an 11th hour legal challenge was lost on Friday by seven local authorities.
The closures do not take into account inner London being more-densely populated, has more deprived and disadvantaged families at greater risk and has a large number of high-rise buildings, they argued.
A judicial review was sought against the closures and further cuts at other fire-stations including Whitechapel leading to 14 fire appliances and 552 firefighter posts going. Whitechapel loses four crews.
“We made this stand because Boris Johnson’s plans are a devastating threat to safety,” said Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman.
“Three fire-stations responding to Thursday’s Apollo Theatre roof collapse are among those being closed—that shows how out of touch the Mayor of London is.”
The stations being closed include three in east London, Bow, Silvertown and Kingsland in Dalston.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here