A ROW has blown up between the Crime Commissioner and the Fire Authority over attempts to speak to fire fighters about who runs the service in the future.

Julia Mulligan wants to take responsibility for the fire service as well as North Yorkshire Police, but has met resistance from the Fire Authority and North Yorkshire County Council.

She said she was keen to speak to the public, police officers, firefighters and staff around North Yorkshire to explain her plans, but she was “disappointed” she had been refused entry to visit fire service sites by the Fire Authority.

But a spokeswoman for the Fire Authority said that Cllr Backhouse, the Fire Authority Chairman, said Mrs Mulligan was welcome to visit fire service sites, providing senior officers from the fire service could be present to put staff at ease and observe the discussion.

She said: “Cllr Backhouse did not refuse access but did refuse the request for the PCC to meet staff alone as he felt that this would be inappropriate.”

Mrs Mulligan said: “The Fire Authority are not letting me on site to directly answer the questions of staff. I think that’s wrong and I think the Fire Authority needs to reverse that decision and give their staff every opportunity to ask questions of me face to face. I believe firefighters and staff should be given the same opportunities to ask questions of me personally as I have afforded to the public during this consultation.

“I therefore ask the Fire Authority to reverse this decision with immediate effect.”

The Fire Authority has previously said the PCC’s business plan was not evidence which supported “an irreversible transfer of governance”, and instead suggested Mrs Mulligan become the 17th member of the organisation.

If Mrs Mulligan’s bid is not supported, an independent assessment could be undertaken by the Home Office to determine whether changes should go ahead.

Cllr Andrew Backhouse, chairman of the authority, previously said external reviews had “consistently confirmed that the authority has strong governance arrangements already”, which could be “further enhanced by the addition of the PCC on the Authority”.

Almost 150 readers took a poll on thepress.co.uk on which of the three proposed options they would prefer, or if they did not think a change was necessary.

The results of the survey were:

Representation - PCC is 17th member of Fire Authority - 28 per cent

Governance - PCC replaces Fire Authority, but Fire and Police service remain two separate organisations - 9 per cent

Single Employer - PCC replaces Fire Authority, Fire and Police services run by the same chief officer - 10 per cent

No Change - 53 per cent

*To find out more or have your say, go to telljulia.co.uk