Claims by Berkshire’s fire authority that frontline fire and rescue services will not be affected by a multi-million pound budget cut has been met with ridicule by local firefighters. Royal Berkshire fire authority met last week to agree a financial settlement for the county’s fire service that will result in £2.6m worth of cuts over the next four years.
The decision, which went against the advice of the authority’s own head of finance and chief fire officer, is compounded by a 24% cut in central government funding from Whitehall. Campaigners had called on the fire authority to agree a 1.75% increase in council tax - equivalent to 45 pence per person, per year - to safeguard frontline services but the authority capped the recommendation at 1% meaning those services will now be hit, says the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
Steve Collins, secretary of the FBU in Berkshire, said: “When you see in a few months’ time proposals from the fire authority to reduce its emergency response times target to house fires and road traffic collisions, please remember this occasion. It could be you waiting for that fire engine.
“As a resident myself, I would be more than happy to pay an extra 45p a year, less than a penny a week, to help offset the cuts from central government and protect the life-saving service the people of Berkshire deserve. It is disgusting that local Conservative councillors did not listen to the voices of the professionals and have put their own political ambitions ahead of what is best for the people of Berkshire.”
Taking evidence before voting on the decision, councillors on the fire authority heard from chief fire officer Andy Fry who recommended the 1.75% increase as “this will ensure we have the financial resources to achieve the ambitious plans that you (the Royal Berkshire fire authority) have to deliver a really efficient and effective fire service to your constituents”.
However fire authority member councillor David Burbage, who also acts as the chair of the authority’s budget working party stated “a 1% increase will have no cuts to frontline services.”
Firefighter numbers have already been reduced as a result of a £2m cut on the wage bill since 2010 with fire engines now only staffed by just four firefighters, severely reducing the ability to safely perform rescues.
