Shropshire fire chief’s alarm over budget cuts

Shropshire’s fire chief has called on government ministers to use a scalpel rather than an axe on the authority’s budget – and warned front-line services across the county could be hit if cuts run deeper than expected.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is trying to make savings of £3 million over four years to offset an expected 25 per cent cut in the cash it receives from government in this week’s Spending Review.
But chief fire officer Paul Raymond, speaking at the latest Join The Conversation meeting in Bridgnorth last night, warned it would be “very difficult to deliver a fire service, full stop” if any more money was taken away.
He said: “We are not taking an axe to services, we are using a scalpel. We have a budget of £21 million and we are estimating £3 million will be taken out of that.
“It means trying to protect the fire engines and trying to protect vulnerable people the most.
“But if it goes above £3 million, I have made it very clear it then becomes difficult to deliver a fire service full stop.”