Warwickshire Fire Service could work with neighbour in ‘strategic alliance’

Warwickshire and Northamptonsire county councils will now develop a business case to allow the services to look at increasing efficiency by sharing support functions and management posts.

Among areas to be considered are a shared control room, shared training facilities, fire safety enforcement and equipment and transport.

Chief fire officer Graeme Smith insists he is not looking at a merger - simply approval to see if some support functions and management posts can be combined.

He has been holding preliminary talks with officers in neighbouring fire service since February.

Mr Smith said: “From those discussions it has become apparent that there may be a number of opportunities to work with our partners, one of which is to examine the potential for a closer working relationship with Northamtonshire Fire and Rescue Service.”

He added: “Warwickshire County Council’s fire and rescue service is committed to providing the best possible service for its communities. It also committed to delivering value for money to the tax payers.

“But we need to be clear that this is not a merger, we will still be Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and we will continue to the serve and protect the communities of Warwickshire.”

Cllr Richard Hobbs (Con, Aston Cantlow) is responsible for community safety. He said: “As an organisation we are going through some very challenging times. As part of the budget resolution we expressed a need to examine how we would work more closely with our partners in order to achieve efficiencies and the discussions I have been having with my counterpart in Northamptonshire have helped to see how this could be achieved.

“Working in closer collaboration will not only help us to increase our capacity and resilience by sharing key services such as fire control, training and fire safety enforcement, it will also ensure that we are able to continue with our improvements and performance to maintain the high level of service the residents of Warwickshire receive.”

Proposals for a strategic alliance will now be taken to Northamptonshire County Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday (September 13).