Peterborough's fire service 'extremely disappointed' to see partnership with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service ended after £12m saving in 14 years

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service has said that it is extremely disappointed to see its partnership with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service come to an end.

Since 2011, the two forces has merged and were both run from a Combined Control Centre in from Cambridgeshire’s headquarters in Huntingdon. In the time the two services were merged, the public purse was saved over £12m. The merger also helped to deliver an effective and efficient service to communities in both counties, manage 999 calls and mobilise fire engines, specialist vehicles and officers to incidents.

In June 2023, however, Cambridgeshire was left shocked when Suffolk announced it would pull out of the partnership at the end of 2024.

Former Chief Fire officer for Cambridgeshire Chris Strickland said: “There had been no talk of Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service pulling out of the collaboration, so all came as a complete surprise.

"The control collaboration saves us at least £500k a year. We are a lean and efficient organisation and this is not an insignificant amount of money that will now need to be found year on year.”

In order to help the force plug the gap, the service has announced that it will be increasing its share of council tax by £4.95 for the next financial year.

For a Band D household, this increase will make the annual contribution to the fire service £87.21. This works out to be a monthly cost of roughly £7.27, or around £1.68 a week.

Chief Fire Officer Matthew Warren said: “Taking the decision to increase council tax is always a difficult one. We know how family budgets are being squeezed from all angles and we certainly don’t take the decision lightly.

“Ending our partnership is extremely disappointing for us. Our colleagues in the Combined Fire Control have done a brilliant job over the years ensuring residents in both counties receive an excellent service when they need us, including during several periods of spate conditions managing record numbers of calls.

"A significant proportion of the additional money we will receive from this rise in council tax will go directly towards plugging the gap in future control costs.

£The remainder will meet inflationary costs and go towards improving our response times to incidents and ensuring our operational crews have the resources and equipment to do their job now and in the future. Our county is one of the fastest growing in the country and we need to ensure we have the right resources in the right places to meet future demand.”

The Fire Authority will decide the final budget at its meeting on February 13.