Fire service to make changes in Telford following budget cuts
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service plans to make operational management changes in the Telford area to save £320,000 a year due to the “unprecedented financial challenge” which will see its budget cut by possibly £4 million over the next few years.
Reductions in its Government grant means that savings must be made, say senior fire officers.
Shropshire and Wrekin Fire Authority plan to be “more flexible” in its management of fire stations and firefighters as part of a four year plan to reduce costs.
By the end of July Watch Managers in charge of firefighters will be reduced from 12 to eight at Telford’s three fire stations at Wellington, Tweedale and Stafford Park and there will be a reduction in the number of firefighters based in the area by taking the opportunity not to replace officers as they reach retirement.
One fire engine will remain at the Tweedale station with the second becoming a more mobile resource, moving across the Borough to where the risks are greatest.
“We are determined to face this unprecedented financial challenge but to continue to deliver the best possible service to the people of Telford and Shropshire,” said Chief Fire Officer Paul Raymond.
The same number of fire engines with the minimum number of firefighters on each fire engine in the Telford area will be maintained, he said.
“While the service would have preferred not to have made these changes, we are confident that this more flexible approach to the provision of fire cover will ensure that our reduced resources continue to be used to best effect.”
A final consultation process with staff and unions is now underway with the changes due to be introduced on July 1.
Andy Johnson, the brigade’s Head of Area Command, said: “We recognise the importance of keeping our response times as short as possible especially during periods of greatest risk. At appropriate times of the day one of the fire engines in Stafford Park will provide cover out of Tweedale fire station, predominantly overnight when people are in their beds and at greatest risk from fire in their homes.”
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is one of the UK’s consistently best performing fire and rescue services praised for its reduction in house fires in Shropshire. But for a small, rural brigade, it was hit by unprecedented cuts to its Government grant with a predicted £4 million cut to its £21 million budget possible by 2015.
Last year the Fire Authority undertook a large public consultation when staff and public representatives were able to consider what changes would need to be made. The results from that process were reported in a Public Value Review 2010 document that set out what the service will do in setting its new budgetary targets over the next four years.
