Shrewsbury MP and Shropshire Fire Chief to meet with Minister
Shrewsbury MP and Shropshire’s Chief Fire Officer will today meet with Fire Minister Brandon Lewis MP to raise concerns over forthcoming budget cuts.
Daniel Kawczynski and Shropshire’s Chief Fire Officer John Redmond will discuss the budget cuts and the effects that they would have on the delivery of the county’s fire and rescue service.
The purpose of the meeting, that will take place on Wednesday 27 November, is to challenge the Minister on the budget proposals for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) up to the year 2020 and in particular the 28% reduction in funding from government that will mean that SFRS is likely to require cuts to front line services in future years.
SFRS recognise that savings need to be made and are on target to meet the required £3.2M savings by 2014. They will be achieving this by introducing pay freezes, reducing the number of fire-fighters, officers and support staff and adopting a leaner approach to administrative functions. The news that a further £1.9m cuts are required by 2020 would potentially mean the removal of fire engines from major towns or closing up to four on call fire stations. This in turn would have a direct impact on fire engine attendance times over a significant area of Shropshire and with population in Shropshire increasing all the time, there are real concerns that more cuts will lead to the loss of lives.
Daniel said:
“SFRS is a high performing fire and rescue service that recognises the problems in the public sector budget and understands the part it must play in dealing with those problems. I have seen the service change over the last few years to provide the best value for money it can for my constituents. However more cuts in funding could see the loss of fire stations in rural areas meaning that response times will go up which I believe will put people’s lives at risk.
I hope that we can convince Brandon Lewis that delivery of a fire and rescue service in Shropshire is very different to an urban area and that we should have a funding formula that takes account of these differences and the time taken to respond to emergencies within a predominantly rural county.”
