Fire Service key decisions postponed

Service to postpone key decisions on budget cuts

CAMBRIDGESHIRE Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) is recommending that its Fire Authority postpone some of the key decisions on budget cuts until its financial picture is clearer.

Chris Strickland, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for CFRS said: "At the moment we don¿t know if we need to make £4.2 million or closer to £6 million worth of cuts.

"We have already identified how we can save £4.2 million and this was approved by the Fire Authority last May. We are confident that these decisions will not affect the level of service provided by CFRS to members of the public and we are now in the process of delivering these savings which has given us some breathing space.

"However, as we have always said, if the figure is nearer £6 million, the Fire Authority will have to make some difficult decisions. Decisions that will impact on the public.

"We believe it's only right that we make key decisions which impact on the level of service to the public when we have an accurate picture of the financial situation, and not before."
the reason why the financial picture is so unclear at the moment is due to a variety of factors, namely the amount the fire service will receive from Government, but also due to factors such as inflation and council tax base growth rate (predictions about the number of people moving to the county, therefore, increasing the amount that CFRS receives in council tax). A clearer understanding of the above should be understood in November when the Government completes its annual spending review.


Feasibility study: Merger of the two Peterborough stations

CFRS recommendation: The only aspect of the feasibility study that will be taken forward at this time is the potential to merge the management processes at Peterborough to reflect those currently in place at Cambridge. There is no intention currently to merge the two stations onto one site.

Stanground to Day Crewed Plus

CFRS recommendation: Again, although there would be a large financial saving if this change were to proceed, the impact against the Service's IRMP would be significant. Therefore the Service is asking for permission to defer this decision until February when the financial picture becomes clearer


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