I held a meeting with the leaders of the Fire service on Monday. It was a full and frank discussion.

In the meeting  I outlined my views. Firstly, we need a guarantee that any changes to the Fire Service are the subject of full public consultation. There are no current proposals and any future ones are now guaranteed to be out in the public domain. Secondly, that there will be no reduction in the number of full-time fire-fighters. I was given this guarantee on Monday. Thirdly, that the Fire Service employees will be fully involved in determining the future direction of the Service. I received this guarantee.

I raised two additional issues. Firstly, the service across Bassetlaw should be seen as one service, linking Retford, Worksop and the retained service. What I want  to know is that the quality of the service will be guaranteed in the future and indeed will continue to improve. If the jobs are all guaranteed then I am happy to allow the fire-fighters to think through how it is configured.

Secondly, I raised my fears over the retained service. They are no lesser fire-fighters by being retained. They are highly skilled and are crucial.

However, in 20 years time, will there still be the retained volunteers readily available? The retained service was built on large workplaces, not least collieries. The system worked well. It is no co-incidence that the retained station in Misterton is next to Newells, or in Harworth opposite the pit. But both these workplaces have gone.

Today workers move jobs far more often. Retford is being turned into a commuter town, as is Misterton. A retained service in 20 years is a challenging model to sustain. There are some potential solutions, but any reconfiguration of service needs to be looking into the future, not back to the past.

Therefore, when the Fire Service does plan for the future, the public needs guarantees over service and facts about retained fire-fighter recruitment and turnover and the number and location of incidents attended by the fire service. I have the current facts and figures in my office for anyone wishing to view them (01909 506200).

I believe that we will need more full time fire-fighters, not less, in the future. I believe we will need to maintain the flexibility and skills of our excellent retained fire-fighters. And I will be listening first and foremost to all our local fire-fighters whose judgement in these matters I trust.