Worcestershire MPs’ response to the Fire Authority consultation on their Community Risk Management Plan. Full text of the letter sent to Cllr Prodger, signed by Harriett Baldwin, Peter Luff, Mark Garnier, Robin Walker and Karen Lumley. Cllr Derek Prodger, Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority, 2 King’s Court, Charles Hastings Way, Worcester, WR5 1JR Dear Derek: We are writing to you with feedback on your consultation on your Community Risk Management Plan. We understand your point about the level of government grant per head in our rural counties and we will raise this with Minister. We have written jointly to him and many of us have also all spoken to him individually. We are also concerned that the local Fire Authority is not doing enough, compared to other local public services, to find efficiency savings that do not affect the front line. For example, we would urge you to find more ways in which you could reduce overhead by collaborating with Shropshire and Warwickshire. We accept that the number of fires has been falling, and that the area can be covered by fewer engines. But given that the maximum number of engines the Fire Authority has had to deploy together is 35 in the floods of 2007, we do not accept the risk to resilience embedded in the current plans, which take the number of engines down to 33. The amount of your revenue budget that comes from council tax is £73.54 per household. We are not supportive of you increasing the precept, but it may be an option on which you wish to consult. We agree that further efficiencies should be made, but do not agree that you have taken all reasonable steps to find administrative savings, working with other neighbouring authorities and with other blue light services. We therefore urge you to reconsider your proposed Community Risk Management Plan.