Fire union warns of cash crisis if council tax rise held to 2pc

The county's brigade has faced grave financial pressures in recent years with a lack of funding from Westminster and the recession is expected to compound problems as the Government looks to cut public spending.

Concerns were voiced yesterday by senior officials in the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) that the situation would worsen unless a bigger council tax increase was introduced in the next financial year.

The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority has proposed a two per cent increase in its council tax charge from April 1, and has launched a countywide consultation to glean the public's views.

However, the FBU brigade secretary for North Yorkshire, Ian Watkins, claimed that fire cover could be undermined unless a significantly higher increase was introduced.

Mr Watkins said: "The recession has had a massive impact on the amount of money which is available and obviously many members of the public have been hit hard financially.

"We are not advocating massive rises in council tax simply for the sake of it, but we need to be realistic. We have concerns that there has been a history of under-investment in health and safety in the brigade in recent years, and things cannot be allowed to continue.

"Emergency cover in North Yorkshire is literally dangling over a precipice, and we have very real fears over what could happen in the future."

The fire authority has drawn up plans for the two per cent increase to prevent the Government stepping in to limit the rise after Ministers warned that local authorities could be capped if they instigate rises of five per cent or above.

The proposed rise in North Yorkshire would mean that the owners of an average band D property would see their current 60.89 bill for fire cover increase by just 1.21 to 62.10.

However, a brigade spokesman maintained that there were no plans to cut back frontline fire cover across England's largest county.

He added: "The authority must stress that it is not proposing any reductions in front-line emergency services whatever council tax level is agreed.

"However, any figure below two per cent will mean that the authority will need to identify further savings or use some of its reserves to invest in the development of cost-saving initiatives for future years."

The North Yorkshire brigade has been conducting the widest-ranging review of non-emergency services for more than a decade to counter the worst Government funding settlement it has been offered in its 36-year history.

The fire authority is facing the proposed 0.5 per cent increase in Government funding, which equates to a rise of just 64,500.

A shortfall of 900,000 is expected in North Yorkshire by the end of the next financial year if the proposed annual settlement is not boosted.

The county's fire authority was awarded an increase in Government funding of one per cent during 2008-09, and a 0.5 per cent rise for the current financial year on an annual budget of 30.3m.

Details of the three-year funding settlement were announced by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in 2007, although the North Yorkshire brigade endured one of the worst deals nationally.

The fire authority is due to meet on Wednesday, February 10, to discuss its budget for the next financial year.