THE planned merger of Bolton’s North and Central fire stations remains “paused” as the fire service is subject to a public sector pay freeze.

Authorities had intended to combine the two fire stations to create just one facility, but these plans were put on hold following the Cube fire.

Fire Brigade Union secretary for Greater Manchester Steve Wiswell said: “The situation that the fire service has been in has been absolutely woeful.

“It used to be a service that we could take pride in now it’s been absolutely decimated.

“We used to have up to 15 fire fighters based at each station, now there’s usually four on duty.

“Like any 24/7 workplace Covid-19 has really impacted us, we’ve had people who’ve been off and we’ve had to ensure they’re been replaced.

“As a union we’ve done out best to keep fire engines available. Firefighters have certainly played their part during the pandemic agreeing to assist with many additional roles and responsibilities wherever possible."

Mr Wiswell says this comes against a backdrop of proposed public sector pay freezes by Chancellor Rishi Sunak and a funding from £75.3m to £52.9, from 2010 to 2020/2 for the county fire service.

He added: "They are freezing our pay while we’ve been going above and beyond to help people.”

Greater Manchester Combined Authority has said firefighter numbers have in fact increased since 2017 and more are expected to be recruited.

Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for policing, crime, criminal justice and fire, insisted firefighters and health service workers should be treated equally in pay terms.

She said: “They have all made incredible efforts to help us through this pandemic and deserve to be recognised."

The Deputy Mayor said government funding cuts had led to an "urgent" need for a sustainable funding settlement from Whitehall.

She added: "Despite the severe pressures caused by central Government, we are committed to maintaining firefighter numbers above 2017 levels and we’ve done this by raising more funding locally through the Mayoral precept. Firefighter numbers have actually increased since 2017 and we are currently recruiting even more.

“On rare occasions we have to respond to exceptional events and that includes the fire at the Cube in Bolton. During such incidents, it’s not uncommon to get support from neighbouring Fire and Rescue Services, just as we do for other areas.

“That’s not to say there are no lessons to be learned and the proposals to merge Bolton North and Bolton Central are currently paused.

“We are committed to maintaining 50 engines across the city-region and current crewing levels into the next financial year."