Fire chief says council tax rise would stop cuts

A fire service that was facing cuts says it needs more money from council tax payers to protect its long-term future.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) had initially proposed closing eight rural fire stations to save money.

Those recommendations have now been withdrawn but Chief Fire Officer Andy Cole says they could end up back on the table if a sustainable funding model is not secured.

Cole said he wanted the government to allow the service to increase its precept from an average of £1.86 a week per household to £2.02 so it could implement a modernisation programme.

Cole said: "What I'm asking for is the ability to be able to increase that up to the national average, so we are the same as comparable fire and rescue services, to about £2.02 a week, so less than a cup of coffee.

"We need to secure longer term financial sustainability and stabilise our financial position so we can implement a more structured and coherent modernisation programme to make improvements... to address what we know are changing needs and risks.

"That includes extreme weather events. There is different equipment and there are different vehicles that will enable us to serve our communities better, but we need to stabilise our finances."

A consultation on the cuts received more than 6,000 survey responses and more than 1,200 people attended public meetings.

Cole said the consultation and conversations with politicians made him "much more optimistic" that the service's funding position would change.

He said: "My recommendation now is very clear that all eight fire stations we put forward in February for closure will now remain open and I will implement a longer term modernisation programme subject to us securing the precept flexibility."

In an update on Thursday, Cole said the service had already secured government money to support innovation, technology and service improvements.

But he said the "one-off funding" did not resolve the authority's long-term issues, adding: "We continue to face a deficit in future years."

The fire authority is due to meet to discuss the revised plan on 30 June, with a precept flexibility application expected in late 2026 and the final outcome confirmed in February 2027.