SURREY County Council (SCC) will continue to be in charge of the county’s fire and rescue service “for the time being”, Surrey’s police commissioner has confirmed.

Following a review of four different options for the future of the service, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) David Munro decided he will not be seeking a change of governance for Surrey Fire and Rescue.

However, Mr Munro called on SCC to ensure fire and rescue works more closely with neighbouring fire services and their blue light colleagues.

He said he expects to see “tangible” progress and, if there is no demonstrable evidence that Surrey Fire and Rescue Service has better collaboration with colleagues in Sussex and elsewhere within six months, he could rethink his decision.

It comes after firefighters declared a motion of no confidence in SCC’s fire authority in July, saying that proposed budget cuts will put the public and firefighters at risk.

The motion, passed by members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), warned the number of firefighters working in Surrey will plummet further if £10 million is cut from the fire service budget as approved by the county council.

In 2010, Surrey Fire and Rescue Service employed 378 firefighters. However, this number has since fallen to 252 and the FBU says by 2022 there will be just 117 whole-time firefighters responding to emergencies across the county.

This would represent a 69 per cent drop in firefighter posts over 12 years and, of all England’s fire and rescue services, Surrey now has the lowest number of staff per head county of population.

The government’s new Policing and Crime Act 2017 places a duty on emergency services to collaborate and makes provision for PCCs to take on the role of governance for fire and rescue authorities where there is a business case to do so.

In Sussex, where PCC Katy Bourne also decided to maintain the status quo, the proposals were opposed by figures across the political spectrum, with many describing the idea as a “distraction”.

Earlier this year, Mr Munro announced his office would be spearheading a working group to look at how Surrey Police can become more closely linked with their fire and rescue colleagues and whether a change of governance would benefit residents.

In line with the legislation set out in the policing and crime act, four possible options were considered:

Following a detailed analysis of the options, the PCC concluded that allowing time for SCC to pursue better fire collaboration would benefit residents more than a change of governance.

“I would like to assure the residents of Surrey that I have not taken this decision lightly and I am clear that retaining the existing governance arrangements does not mean that we simply accept the status quo,” Mr Munro said.

“I expect to see real and tangible activity over the next six months, including a declaration of intent between the three chief fire officers across Surrey and East and West Sussex to work more closely in collaboration and a detailed plan on how both efficiencies and operational benefits can be drawn out.

“There also has to be a more focused and ambitious effort to enhance blue-light collaborative activity in Surrey. I am confident that SCC are now better informed to lead and explore how the fire and rescue service could work more creatively with others to the advantage of Surrey residents.

“I said from the start this was a really important project for the future of our emergency services in Surrey and it has required a very careful analysis of those options available to me as a PCC.