THE fire service has denied a senior councillor’s claims that he was deliberately ignored from speaking at Canvey’s fire cuts meeting.

Dave Blackwell, leader of the Canvey Island Independent Party, has made a formal complaint to Essex County Fire and Rescue Service after claiming he was not given the opportunity to speak at the packed gathering on Saturday.

The meeting, at Smallgains Hall, Canvey, was called to discuss plans to change the status of the island’s fire station from full time to retained, and was packed with local residents and politicians, many of whom had their say. Mr Blackwell claims he was not given the same chance.

He said: “They knew who I was, because I’d introduced myself at the start.

“I even spoke to the guy taking questions half way through, he just said hold on and you’ll get your turn, but I never did.

“I think everyone who was there could tell it was political, it wasn’t like they didn’t notice me.”

The meeting was addressed by Castle Point’s Conservative MP Rebecca Harris and two Tory councillors – Ray Howard and Andrew Sheldon, but a spokeswoman for the fire service denied there had been any bias.

She said: “Everyone had an equal opportunity to speak. There was no political selection process.”

Ray Howard, Conservative county and borough councillor for Canvey West, also said Mr Blackwell was not deliberately overlooked.

He said: “Dave should definitely have been given his say and I know how frustrated he must have felt. I don’t think it was politics – it was just a very busy meeting.”

The fire service plans to make the fire station retained as part of county-wide cost savings.

Opponents fear Canvey is too large to rely on retained crews, which take an average of five minutes longer to reach the scene of an incident.

The Canvey Island Independent Party, which controls Canvey Town Council and holds all but one of the island’s seats on Castle Point Council, has organised a petition opposing the plans.

So far it has more than 4,000 signatures.

A final decision on the proposals will be taken on Tuesday, February 8. If the changes are approved, they could be introduced as early as April.