A senior Cornwall councillor has urged the council to intervene to allow contract hours to be reduced which is currently stopping new volunteers joining the Fire Service.

Following the news that a young volunteer was unable to join Callington’s service due to his living elsewhere, despite working in the community daily, Cllr Andrew Long has urged the council to intervene.

“We have a volunteer who wants to join but doesn’t live in the parish but commutes here to work,” said Cllr Long. “His employer is willing for him to join but with the minimum contract requirement of 96 hours he cannot fulfil that as he lives too far away.

“There is general agreement from the unions and the Service to change the contact hours but for some reason it is getting bogged down in the council somewhere.

“Callington Fire Station has an excellent group of people who provide incredible service to the community but the daytime needs often stretches them to the limit so having ‘in town’ workers being able to join could provide that additional support.”