Cheshire Fire Authority budget approved

Cheshire Fire Authority budget for 2024/5 has been agreed by its members.

Following an online public consultation, an increase in the Fire Authoritiy’s precept of 2.99% for the next financial year, has been agreed.

This will mean an increase on a Band D property of £2.61 per year, bringing the annual precept charge on a Band D property to £90.09.

The Fire Authority is funded through two main sources of income, local council tax and central government funding. Council tax makes up over two thirds of the Authority’s total funding.

Cheshire Fire Authority also approved its Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2024–28

The CRMP, the blueprint for the Service over the next four years, includes changing the way some fire engines are staffed to guarantee more are available to respond to incidents during busy weekday daytimes and to carry out more visits to homes and businesses.

The plan also sets out how the Service will address risks such as the increasing use of lithium-ion battery technology.

Plans within the CRMP include:

• introducing a new response standard of an average response time of ten minutes to primary fires
• converting four on-call (part-time) fire engines at Macclesfield, Runcorn, Winsford and Northwich to full-time fire engines during weekday daytimes, meaning quicker response times and more emergency cover across Cheshire, plus extra capacity to carry out more community fire safety work
• introducing a day-crewing staffing system at Knutsford, providing guaranteed fire cover in the area 24/7
• reorganising the way full-time fire engines operate in the Warrington area, improving the spread of emergency cover and prevention and protection work across Birchwood and Stockton Heath
• strengthening the on-call duty system, to make it more sustainable and more rewarding for on-call firefighters serving communities where there are fewer incidents.

Twenty full-time firefighter posts will be created through the changes, which will also see a reduction in the number of on-call firefighter posts.

There are no changes to the overall number of fire engines or fire stations across Cheshire, but the plans will mean that five more full-time fire engines are guaranteed to be available during weekday daytimes.