Fire chiefs wait for funding news

6:24pm Wednesday 9th January 2008

FIRE bosses have revealed they will not know until the end of the month if they will get better funding.

But they said even if the worst case scenario of a one per cent increase and half a per cent for the two subsequent years went ahead, front line services would not be affected in the forthcoming year.

These services included emergency responses, they said.

Chief fire officer Nigel Hutchinson, speaking after a meeting with a Government Minister, said: "Over the next 12 months we will be looking at the longer term implications of the funding settlement and the needs of the service.

"Clearly, it would not be sensible to speculate on the long-term implications of the settlement at this time as it is too early to tell what impact it might have on future development plans."

For more details see tomorrow's The Press.