THE Liberal Democrats in Gloucestershire are calling on the county’s blue light services to work more closely together.

The opposition group on Gloucestershire County Council will pushing for greater collaborative work between the fire services, police and ambulance services at the last council meeting of the year in December.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 introduced a legal requirement for emergency services to work more closely together. Services will however only be required to collaborate where the agreement would be in the interests of its efficiency or effectiveness.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the fire and rescue service, Cllr Jeremy Hilton, who will be leading the motion, said: “I welcome the decision of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Martin Surl to withdraw his bid to takeover the governance of our fire and rescue service. We can now move forward and develop new collaborative projects as equal partners.

“Successful partnerships are based on tough negotiations to deliver shared outcomes. Our TriService headquarters and workshops, which were opened when I was the cabinet member, are fine examples of what can be achieved.

“Our motion calls on the three blue light services to develop further collaborative projects, which could include shared facilities at our community fire stations.”

Cllr Nigel Moor, cabinet member for fire, said: “I welcome the support from the Liberal Democrats for the moves the Conservative administration has already put in place to promote joint working between police, fire and ambulance in Gloucestershire.

“We already work very closely together and share buildings, and with the ending of the PCC’s bid to take over Fire, the way is clear for even more meaningful cooperation.

“The council leader and I have met with the PCC several times recently to discuss exactly this issue and we look forward to more joint working in future.”

PCC Mr Surl, however clarified that he had not abandoned any thought of taking over the governance of the fire service: “I am glad Jeremy Hilton has come round to my way of thinking that closer collaboration between our blue light services would benefit Gloucestershire.

“However he seems to have completely missed the point that I have not abandoned any thought of reforming governance of the fire service only deferred it to give people a chance to prove they are serious.

“Whilst I am in favour of closer collaboration between police and fire, it is a matter of record that when Mr Hilton was chair of the fire authority, he oversaw the creation of a tri-service centre at Quedgeley which was supposed to be the template for closer working between the blue light services.

“Unfortunately, under his stewardship it didn’t quite work out that way. Today, the ambulance service has gone; the control room and workshops remain separate and the only facility fire and police officers share is a canteen.”