Stark Warning: North Wales firefighters budget review could put over 220 jobs at risk – your chance to have a say.

The North Wales Fire and Rescue authority bosses warn more than 220 jobs could be lost and stations closed if funding is not increased over the next five years.

The authority is currently funded by council tax payments but says its budgets have changed little in the last five years, despite increases in council tax.

Mr Carl Sargeant,AM for Alyn and Deeside who was a trained industrial firefighter before becoming an AM, said:

“This warning is obviously very concerning.

“Our firefighters and fire service do a fantastic job in extremely challenging conditions to keep us all safe and their dedication to their profession is phenomenal.

“It is vitally important that we listen to their concerns and see what can be done to address them and I will be writing to the fire authority to arrange a meeting to discuss these issues in the coming weeks.”

North Wales Fire and Rescue service is encouraging people to get involved in a public consultation which will help plan the future direction for the service in north Wales.

The Authority is keen to hear public views on providing affordable services in north Wales and the consultation process sets out three clear options with regards to budgets

The options include a freeze on the budget until 2019 – make £3.3 million of cuts, which would lead inevitably to large scale redundancies with up to 228 firefighters losing their jobs, the closing of fire stations and the loss of fire engines. 

Councillor Meirick Lloyd Davies, Chair of the Fire and Rescue Authority, said:

“The questions we are asking as part of this consultation are to do with how we can ensure we provide the best service possible with the money we have available to us.

“The more people get involved, the better our prospects of achieving the right balance of services we provide. The more opinions we receive, the more we can be confident that the detailed action plans we develop will deliver exactly what the people of North Wales want.”

You can see all the options and join in the consultation here