Mike Fennell The Politics Show South West

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Insufficient low cost property available?

The Southwest Regional Assembly has launched its blueprint for the region's housing needs.

The blueprint called for 7,000 new homes to be built every year for the next two decades in Devon and Cornwall alone.

But it did not specify how much of that should be affordable housing.

Fire-fighter shortage

In some areas the current shortage has become critical, to the point where there are concerns that lives are being put at risk.

That is because some of Devon's rural fire stations are suffering from severe staffing shortages and their fire engines are being forced to stand idle.

In the Dartmoor village of Chagford there is a critical shortage of retained fire-fighters, the volunteers who crew more than 80% of the 58 fire stations in Devon.

Despite that they have managed to cope with a busier than average first six months of the year, with a series of grass fires adding to their normal calls rota.

Excessive hours?

But because the fire station is working at half-strength, it puts a huge strain on the remaining seven fire-fighters and their families.

Darren Kinsman-Moore is one of them:

"We are doing every weekend. We have just worked eight weekends on the trot, doing a day here covering for each other, basically we have got one crew at the moment and it is a huge struggle.

"It is a huge effect on our family lives."

House prices

One of the main reasons for the problem is the spiralling cost of buying a home in the village. It is pricing potential recruits out of the housing market.

Darren was lucky - because he was a key-worker he was found affordable housing, but there simply is not enough available:

"House prices in Chagford are astronomical which forces people to rent outside of the village.

"A lot of houses in Chagford are second homes, so basically we don't have the people," he continued.

It's a similar story in Moretonhampstead. Again there should be fourteen part-time fire-fighters on the roster.

Employment opportunity

Again there are only half that number. Lack of affordable housing is one factor - lack of employment in the town is another.

The town's fire engine is frequently out of action during the day-time because of the crewing shortages.

If there was a fire in the town it would have to be covered from Bovey Tracey 15 minutes away - giving rise to concerns for local Lib-Dem MP Richard Younger Ross:

"The real risk is that if we are unable to get the number of retained fire-fighters up then there is a real danger that they won't be able respond to an incident and that crews will have to be brought in from further afield.

If they come in from further afield that's a delay in response times and that puts lives at risk."

In all 60 retained fire-fighters are needed across the county.

Desperate measures

The shortfall is so critical Devon's Fire and Rescue Service has been forced to resort to desperate measures in Chagford.

Newton Abbot-based Station Officer, Des Wraight explained: "We are knocking on doors asking people if they would be interested in joining the fire and rescue service. It's that bad. We have seven personnel when we should have 14.

"These guys are working round the clock and they're working miracles and they are making a massive commitment to the fire and rescue service and to their communities but unfortunately they can't carry on at that level. We need new blood."

The recruitment problem can only get worse.

Even if more affordable housing did become available, under a new scheme being phased in over the next three years to pay retained fire-fighters a salary - a further 115 of them will be needed to make it work.

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