NORTH Yorkshire's Fire Authority has opposed plans for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to take control of the way the fire service is run.

Parliament has agreed that PCCs can take on the role of local Fire and Rescue Authorities where plans are supported.

North Yorkshire's PCC Julia Mulligan has launched a consultation proposing changes to the way the county’s fire service is overseen.

The PCC says her preferred option is the Governance model, where the PCC takes on legal and overarching responsibility for the provision of the fire services in their area. The services would retain their operational independence, budgets, chief fire officers and their own staff. This option would see the PCC becoming the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

The Authority's chairman, councillor Andrew Backhouse, has set out the Fire Authority’s position, saying: "The Fire Authority considers that the PCC has not set out an evidenced case for an irreversible transfer of governance from the Fire Authority to the PCC.

"Instead we believe it would be better if the PCC were to become a voting member on the Authority, alongside existing councillors."

He says the Authority's proposal "balances costs, savings, collaboration and public safety in an appropriate and risk assessed way and still keeps options for change open for the future, if necessary."

"External reviews have consistently confirmed that the Authority has strong governance arrangements already," he added.

"We believe that these arrangements can be further enhanced by the addition of the PCC on the Authority. We want to ensure that any future governance structure does not de-stabilise the organisation.

"The Authority believes in greater collaboration with a wide range of partners, not just with the police, and our proposed model of governance would deliver this."

If both North Yorkshire Police and the fire service were governed under the same body, Julia Mulligan says this would not see police and fire budgets shared or a combined frontline emergency service, but acknowledged the proposal was a money-saving exercise.

She said: “Let’s be clear, this is not a merger. The two services will remain separate - police officers and fire officers will still have their own distinct roles, and budgets will always be kept separate. But by bringing both organisations under the same governance, we can improve things for everyone. In North Yorkshire we have some good examples of working together where the police and fire services join up to prevent harm, helping to protect vulnerable people, and improve community safety. But just a few examples are not enough. There is much more that we could, and should, be doing.”

She added that by sharing resources, money could be reinvested into frontline services.

Consultation is open for the next 10 weeks. For details visit telljulia.com