West Midlands Fire Service facing £30m cut in funding

Up to £30 million could be slashed from West Midlands Fire Service's annual budget, the Express & Star can reveal today.

The authority currently gets £70 million of its £120 million budget from central Government.

But fire bosses fear they could lose almost half of that.

Neil Eustace, vice chairman of the fire authority's executive committee, said: "We're working on the basis the cut will be between £5 million and £30m.

"But we don't expect it to be at the top end of the scale.

"We are looking at all our spending so when we know the figure the Government wants to save, we can work with them to save it without reducing the service."

The Government is expected to reveal how much the grant will be cut when it delivers its comprehensive spending review next Wednesday.

Mr Eustace, a Birmingham councillor for Yardley, declined to go into detail about what the impact would be.

He also declined to give details about how they had come up with the estimate, other than saying it was based on "experience".

"I am not going to speculate about what will happen if it's at the top end of that scale," he said.

"We have worked very hard in the past to balance the books and we can do it again."

After the Government grant, the next largest source of funding comes from council tax.

If the cut was at the extreme end of the scale, plans to build new fire stations in Wednesbury and Halesowen could be scuppered.

On Saturday, the Express & Star revealed the number of firefighters will be cut, with fewer engines in operation and shift patterns changed if government cuts go ahead.

A detailed internal document has been sent to all 39 fire stations in the region highlighting how up to £30m savings may need to be made.

Sandwell Councillor Mary Docker, another member of the fire service's executive committee, said they were "bracing themselves" for the final figure.