Closure of 10 West Yorkshire fire stations approved

The West Yorkshire Fire Authority has approved the closure of 10 fire stations, cutting 102 firefighter jobs.

The 10 stations that are closing are Gipton, Stanks, Rawdon, Otley, Brighouse, Elland, Hemsworth, South Elmsall, Batley and Dewsbury.

The stations will be replaced with five new "super stations" at Killingbeck, Menston, Rastrick, South Kirkby and Batley Carr.

The fire authority must save £18m over the next four years after funding cuts.

Councillor David Ridgway, chairman of the authority, said: "The changes are actually sensible, they are acceptable and they will work."

The authority said the plans could take four years to implement and the jobs would go through "planned retirements".

Mark Wilson, branch secretary of the Fire Brigades' Union, said he was "extremely disappointed".

He added the changes would be "an erosion of not only public safety but firefighter safety".

West Yorkshire Fire Service had previously operated 48 fire stations across five districts.

A three-month consultation over the closure proposals ended last Friday. It received 2,973 letters of objection or concern.

The meeting approving the closures took place at the authority headquarters in Birkenshaw.