Plans to share fire chief with Northamptonshire scrapped

PLANS for Warwickshire to share one chief fire officer with Northamptonshire were scrapped by Warwickshire County Council on Tuesday.

The proposal was taken off the table because the savings made by the partnership would have been ‘small’.

Richard Hobbs, portfolio holder for community safety at the council, said: “It’s disappointing that we had to pull out but I didn’t feel we were at a well enough developed stage.

“We are appointing a single chief for Warwickshire but we’re looking for partnership working in the years to come so we can bring the costs down.”

There will be a new chief fire officer when the current chief Graeme Smith retires in May.

Graeme Smith, the Chief Fire Officer for Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service