Crime chief wins judicial review over fire service takeover

An attempt to block the county’s police and crime commissioner from taking control of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service has been defeated in the courts.
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It was confirmed today (Monday) that a judicial review from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority has failed, although the group said it will consider whether to go ahead with a second one.

Police and crime commissioner Jason Ablewhite said he welcomed the judge’s decision.

The judicial review took place last month.

Jason AblewhiteJason Ablewhite
Jason Ablewhite
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The ruling upheld the Home Office’s decision to allow Mr Ablewhite to take over the fire service’s governance from the fire authority, which believed the crime chief’s business case had contained “insufficient evidence” for the transfer of power and was “flawed”.

Fire authority chairman Cllr Kevin Reynolds said: “I know I speak for the whole fire authority when I say that we are hugely disappointed with the outcome of the judicial review.

“We sought a judicial review as we believe the fire authority and fire and rescue service in Cambridgeshire work extremely well together as a governance model and no reason had been demonstrated to change that in either the business case or the documentation we received from the Home Office to explain their decision to rule in favour of the police and crime commissioner.

“As a fire authority we have always believed we have an efficient and effective fire and rescue service and, since we sought the judicial review, the government-commissioned HMICFRS inspection has assessed us to be ‘Good’ in efficiency and effectiveness.

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“In fact, we are only one of two out of 30 fire services so far inspected by the HMICFRS to not get a single area that has been classified as requiring improvement.

“We had already submitted an application for a second judicial review prior to the hearing in June, based on new information, and so now we will seek legal advice about whether to continue to pursue that or what other options there may be for us now.”

Mr Ablewhite said: “I welcome today’s judgment which provides the Judge’s decision to dismiss the fire authority’s judicial review.

“This challenged the process by which the Home Secretary made the decision to approve my proposal to transfer the governance of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service to myself.

“It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”