A FIRE chief has spoken of his "extreme disappointment" after the Government pressed ahead with a cut in funding for North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service.

The service will get a below-inflation increase in its grant of only one per cent in the coming financial year - equivalent to £127,000 - and may only get a rise of 0.5 per cent per annum in the following two years.

Chief Fire Officer Nigel Hutchinson had hoped the Government would increase the grant after travelling down to London earlier this month to seek clarification from Minister Ian Wright as to why the figure was so low.

"We are extremely disappointed with the final settlement, having had what we felt was a productive meeting with Ian Wright," he said today.

"At our meeting, we outlined our case for a better funding settlement. We questioned why North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service hadn't fared as well as other fire and rescue services across the country, in particular in the Yorkshire region."

He said the deputation to London had appealed to the Minister to reinstate a basic "funding floor" to represent inflationary pressures, as had been provided for other public sector organisations.

"However, as yet we still haven't been told why this funding floor has been reduced to a below-inflation one per cent and we feel that our North Yorkshire communities deserve an explanation."

He said the service would continue to press for better grant increases than the provisional figures of 0.5 per cent in the next two years.

Mr Hutchinson said he wanted to reassure the public that frontline services would not be affected in the coming year, and said it would not be sensible to speculate on the longer-term implications as it was too early to tell what impact the grant might have.

However, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned previously that job losses would be likely if the Government confirmed the grant cuts.

Ian Watkins, the union's brigade secretary, said: "Lives could be lost as a result of the cuts - both public lives and fire crews. The fire service in North Yorkshire is so stripped back that all this is going to do is exacerbate the problem."

He claimed North Yorkshire residents were facing a "postcode lottery - if you live in North Yorkshire your fire cover is reduced compared to if you live in say, West Yorkshire."


Residents quizzed on tax rise

COUNCIL taxpayers are being asked how big a rise they would support in their precept payments to North Yorkshire's police and fire services.

An online questionnaire has been launched by North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service.

Residents are given four options over the amount of council tax they should pay for the service - increases of 4.7 per cent, 3.7 per cent or 2.7 per cent or zero.

The service said previously that if the Government stuck with a one per cent grant rise, a 6.5 per cent increase in the council tax precept would be needed to fully meet the shortfall - equivalent to £3.64 extra per year for a Band D council taxpayer.

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire Police are asking whether they should increase their share of the council tax by three per cent or whether it should go up to 4.3 per cent.

The question has been put to voluntary organisations across the county including Age Concern York, Friends of York Hospital and York and District Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Police will decide how much the precept will increase by at a meeting on Monday, in Northallerton.

The fire service questionnaire will be available online on the authority's website at www.northyorksfire.gov.uk until Monday February 4.