We would like to know if you would support us asking for an annual rise of up to £2.01 for our part of the council tax to enable us to improve the way we train our firefighters so they remain competent and skilled for all the emergencies they could attend.
This is required because the average number of incidents our firefighters attend has reduced significantly over the last 10 years. Although this is great news in terms of public safety, it has a negative knock on affect as our firefighters do not get the same operational experience as they once used to.
We also have a significant challenge ahead of us, as looking at retirement profiles of our existing workforce and adding in the average number of firefighters that leave each year for other reasons, we will need to recruit and train around 70 new firefighters over the next five years.
We are one of the lowest cost fire and rescue services in the country and continuously review what we do to save money, become more efficient and improve our service. All areas of our Service have been scrutinised over the last few years to drive out savings and therefore, it is now more challenging to make further cuts or find money from somewhere to fund improvements, without having to take anything away from our frontline services.
We are looking at two options:
· Asking for an extra 2% which equates to an extra £1.34 a year of a band D property. This would enable us to maintain our current level of service and continue training the way we do now.
· Asking for an extra 3% which equates to an extra £2.01 for a band D property. This will enable us to maintain our current level of service and allow us to make improvements to the way we train our firefighters to ensure they are fully skilled to deal with the huge variety of different incidents they may be called out to.
No rise in council tax will leave us with a shortfall in budget which may affect frontline services.
We would be grateful if you could please complete the question on the next page to let us know which option you support.
Many thanks for your time.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Kevin Reynolds
Chairman of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority
