Monday 10
December
11.00
hrs
Fire Chiefs at
Avon Fire & Rescue Service are warning of a threat to emergency
cover following the recent grant proposals announced by the
Government last week.
Chair of Avon Fire
Authority, Councillor Terry Walker said: " These proposals are
devastating. The Government is proposing to increase our grant by
just 1% next year, and then by 0.5% in the following two
years. This is well below inflation and we won’t be able to
balance the books. It is extremely unfair of the Government
to have changed the rules (without notice) about how the overall
grant is distributed to individual fire services. For
example, under these proposals Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue
Service will get an increase of almost 9%.
To meet our budget
requirements for next year would need a 7.5% increase in Council
Tax, as a result of the poor Government grant support to this
Authority".
Councillor Walker
went on to say "Unfortunately we also face a double-whammy
here. The Government has said it will use its capping powers
to restrict Council Tax increases to below 5%. We have no
alternative but to radically rethink our budget, and this could
have devastating effects on our communities".
Chief Fire Officer
Kevin Pearson stated: "These proposals are going to present us with
real difficulties over the next three years. I am extremely
concerned that we may not be able to continue to provide the same
level of high quality services to our communities. We intend
to make representation to Ministers and Civil Servants,
particularly in the light of the apparent unfairness of the
proposed distribution method. We recognise that the amount of
money allocated by the Government to the fire service is
fixed. We are not asking for more money overall, just a
fairer and more transparent method of working out who gets
what".
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