KINVER Community Fire Station will remain open and operational after the decision was made to axe Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service proposals.

At a meeting of the Fire and Rescue Authority this morning (July 13), plans to reduce the number of stations across the county from 33 to 15 were unanimously rejected.

This means the village’s recently-opened £1.9 million station, which was under threat of being one of the 18 to go, will be retained.

Kinver’s MP Gavin Williamson, who launched a petition to save the station from closure, said he is delighted with the authority’s decision.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted that these ridiculous proposals have been scrapped and that the fire station in Kinver is now safe.

“Residents would not have been safe with the reduced level of cover that had been proposed and I sincerely hope that the fire service follow through with the recommendations, which will be a huge relief for my constituents.”

Chief Fire Officer Peter Dartford, of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, recommended that the original plans – which set out ways to help save £1.7m – were rejected by the Fire and Rescue Authority when the future of the service was discussed this morning.

After the original proposals were announced, Mr Williamson launched a petition calling for his constituency to keep its firefighters and engines, collecting more than 2,824 names which he delivered to the House of Commons at the end of last week.

The final tally of petitions received now stands at 3,185.

Mr Williamson added: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who backed our campaign to save the fire stations, especially those who delivered leaflets and signed the petition.

“It is clear from the 3,185 signatures that we received that constituents across utterly rejected these proposals on the grounds of their safety being compromised and the complete waste of public money.”