How can people (who know what they're talking about) read this article with anything other than an incredulous sigh? All quotes from the article . . .
In 2009 a review of these functions found that the 31 air support units were all operated independently of one another.
Just for starters, what does he think Thames Valley have been doing since they started; & Cambridge, Essex & Suffolk have all been leaping into each others counties for years. The problems of these operations have always been that, covering another county/area, reduces cover in the original host county and, due to increased transit times (as Art mentions), the service provided is invariably LESS efficient &/or effective!
The new Service will be owned nationally, organised regionally and delivered locally.
How is one (or possibly two) central control room(s) "organising services regionally"? IMO "regional" should be no larger than Northern, Borders & Scotland, Wales, Midlands/Thames, Southwestern, Southern, Southeastern - roughly equating to about 6 counties &, maybe,
average 3 aircraft per region, I'd suggest?
How can you "deliver services locally" when you take 30 mins to get there?
However, moving bases would be an expensive option – so the basing model developed takes into account current bases and balances the need to have locally based aircraft suitably positioned to reduce flying times and to provide an appropriate response . . .
So the proposal is to move a number of bases, expensively, and without prior consulation, allowing the proposed new location to set the revenue agenda, rather than NPAS.
The only balance being proposed appears to be that of a cockroach on one end of a see-saw, with an elephant on the other!! (no offence intended to the Elephant!)
"
locally based" - not for many. "
reduce flying times" - impossible to believe. "
appropriate response" - unlikley.
This will reduce the transit time from the base to the incident resulting in a greater time on task for the aircraft.
What a load of b
s - transit times will increase & at least 75% of jobs will see any aircraft arriving later than it should, to offer
effective support, anyway. True that some areas will, theoretically, be served by a faster response, but only from base if the aircraft is not on another job 30 mins away!
essential to have a national dispatch function
How does this square with
organised regionally and delivered locally
??
pre-planned events will be managed through a Tasking and Coordination Group process
completely defeating any issue of localism, as all requests for attendance at Emergency Services promotion days, fairs, schools etc will no doubt be refused, despite the inestimable value they offer to the "local" community, whilst remaining available for tasking at all times.
The old mantra, "lies, damned lies & statistics", should be changed to "spin, damned lies & statistics" - this is a good example, with all of them poorly presented, IMHO!
