A consultation launched on 1st September aims to help County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service plan for the future in light of further cuts to government grant funding.
Reductions during the past four years have meant the Service had to find over £3.5m of savings from its budget since 2010. Achieving these savings meant making significant changes to how services are delivered and so far this has been achieved without increasing risk in local communities.
The next three years are likely to be even more challenging as a further £3.6m of savings has to be found to meet the expected reductions in funding. The options available to balance the budget for the fire and rescue service will be increasingly difficult to implement and the Service needs to think differently about how it delivers services.
As part of the Service’s latest three year strategic plan 2015/16 – 2017/18, five proposals and questions have been posed and comments are sought from people living and working in the area.
The Authority is proposing ways of collaborating with other emergency services by sharing buildings and expanding its commitment to develop the skills of firefighters to provide support to responding ambulances. Proposals also include different ways of crewing the aerial ladder platform from Darlington fire station and the first responding fire engine from Spennymoor fire station.
Susan Johnson, chief executive said: “So far the changes made have delivered savings without significantly impacting on the front-line services we provide. However, there are some difficult decisions to be made as finding new ways of working that do not increase risk to our local communities is becoming more and more difficult, particularly as the majority of our services are statutory duties.”
“To better understand the views of people living and working in County Durham and Darlington, we are seeking the views of local people, our staff, partners and other stakeholders.”
This three year strategic plan document can be viewed on the Service website at www.ddfire.gov.uk/service-plans where there is a link to the consultation questions at http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/three_year_strategic_plan15-16_17-18
