THE public of North Yorkshire have until August 15 to oppose the plans of the Police and Crime Commissioner to add to her portfolio the oversight of our fire service.

Julia Mulligan’s proposal appears to have more to do with power and ambition than genuine concern for greater efficiency or value for money.

She reveals her true colours by suggesting not only sharing of resources but also the amalgamation of leadership teams to develop a joint community safety plan.

Perhaps she thinks paired officers can carry out crime prevention surveys at the same time as fire risk assessments; or maybe she will have firefighters carrying out covert surveillance of drug dealers, terrorists and child abusers from fire tenders; or will it be the case that combined crews will patrol the streets in fire tenders to prevent crime and disorder while waiting to be deployed to fire scenes?

Do we learn nothing from history? The three separate emergency services of police, fire and ambulance derive from local police forces of constables established in the early 1800s who carried out all three roles.

Gradual separation over a century led to total reorganisation after the Second World War, when nationally accountable separate police and fire services overseen by local committees were formed in response to the strains of resourcing, while ambulance services were absorbed into the new national health arrangements.

It is vitally important that police and fire services maintain separate accountability and oversight arrangements to champion their individual roles.

Allan Charlesworth, Old Earswick, York