Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, Cllr Ben Bradley MP, and Leader of the Conservative Group on the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority, Cllr Jonathan Wheeler, have welcomed the increase in Government funding for the Fire Service in Nottinghamshire.
Figures show that the Authority will have an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £2.62m, which equates to a roughly 5.7% increase.
Cllr Bradley has been working with local Councillors and his Parliamentary colleagues in Nottinghamshire to lobby the Minister for an increase in funding.
He said: “I am very pleased that our work over the last few months has paid off, and thank the Fire Minister Chris Philp MP for engaging with us and supporting us with this increase.
“The Labour-led Fire Authority had proposed some unhelpful changes, and whilst it is clear that they need to accelerate their efficiencies programme to save money as other authorities have done, our services should not suffer in the meantime.
“This additional funding will help protect our frontline services. I know our Councillors will be pushing for this and hopefully, the Labour leadership at the Fire Authority support this.”
Cllr Jonathan Wheeler also welcomed the news, saying: “My Group have had to put up with slurs and insults from other parties for making clear we don’t accept the cuts Labour proposed are needed.
“We have been proactively working with our MP colleagues to ask the Government for more funding rather than grandstanding or putting together misleading petitions.
“My Group will continue to stand up for local residents and fight to protect our services, including the closure of West Bridgford Fire Station at night which delivers no net financial saving while increasing risk to local residents.”
• Rushcliffe MP speaks in Parliament against changes to West Bridgford’s fire cover
