A NORTH-EAST fire service plans to mitigate the impact of Government cuts and protect life-saving front line services by selling land to property developers, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Bosses at the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service are attempting to plug funding gaps and safeguard the future of the service by striking a deal with housing developers.

They hope to generate desperately needed capital income through proposals to build 12 residential properties at their Darlington site as part of a major redevelopment plan.

Chief Fire Officer Stuart Errington said a significant reduction in central Government funding meant that the service is having to work more innovatively to prevent front-line services being impacted as Darlington’s MP described the move as a sign of the Government’s austerity cuts “continuing to bite”.

Funding from central government to CCDFS reduced by £4.9m between 2010/11 and 2015/16 and is set to reduce further, according to a report submitted on behalf of the fire brigade to Darlington Borough Council.

The report said the land sale would assist in funding the much-needed replacement fire station and “thereafter provide a boost to the finances of CDDFRS, enabling the service to continue to provide an efficient and effective emergency service.”

It added: “The proposed residential development is therefore hugely important in assisting the funding of the replacement fire station and the essential service it provides.”

Mr Errington said the Government’s withdrawal of capital funding grants – which helped to keep fire engines on the road and funded building works and other projects –had contributed to the service being left in a “difficult position”.

Fearing a lack of capital income could impact on revenue funds, with a resulting effect on front-line services, he said that making use of surplus land arising from the multi-million pound regeneration of the fire station made financial sense and that he was confident a buyer would be found quickly.

Mr Errington added: “We have to fund the cost of building the station and on top of that, fund the cost of replacing appliances – they cost about £250,000 each and we replace two or three a year.

“Our commitment to staff is to give them the best buildings and the best equipment we can afford to enable them to be the best fire fighters in the country.

“Having capital money is really important, it is money we have to find, our reserves are low at five per cent of our budget and it may have to come from revenue.

“If cuts continue, we are going to see more and more changes to front line provision and nobody wants that.

“It’s not that unusual for emergency services to sell land but the difference is that we’re doing it to maintain front line provision, rather than to invest in the service going forward.”

MP Jenny Chapman called for reassurance for Darlington residents that the plan would not lead to cuts to service or staffing levels, adding: “It’s a sign of how the Government’s austerity cuts are continuing to bite when our fire service has to sell off land to plug funding gaps.”

Fire Brigades Union secretary Jim Bittlestone said the decision to sell the land to generate income proved that fire services in the North-East had been “cut to the bone”.

He said: “It is shocking that they have to do this and reflective of what they have to do in order to protect front line services, which they are desperate to do.

“We’ve had eight years of Conservative austerity that has affected budgets and will continue to affect budgets.

“Fire and rescue services up and down the country but especially here, are feeling the pinch and having to cut their cloth.

“Nationally, we’ve lost 11,000 fire fighters since 2010 – one in five posts. It is a desperate situation.”

“We are right down to the bone now and there’s no more meat to cut off, so it’s desperate measures.”