The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) will meet at City Hall on Thursday 20 November to discuss a range of business matters, including its response to the Mayor’s preliminary draft budget proposals for 2009/10.
Authority members will discuss how to achieve the Mayor’s proposed revenue budget of £431.9m, without reducing front line services. It will also consider the impact of the Mayor’s proposal to use £15.6m of the Authority’s reserves to fund the budget.
Financial savings proposals to meet the Mayor’s target budget will be discussed at the meeting. Final decisions will be made in March 2009.
Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, Councillor Brian Coleman said: “These are difficult times for Londoners and I am determined that we will protect taxpayers from excessive council tax increases. The draft budget provides sensible management of public funds to provide London with the fire and rescue service which Londoners need and expect. There will be no cuts to frontline services and any final decisions taken in March next year will have been based on a thorough examination of how we can continue to provide and improve the services of the London Fire Brigade using tax payers money.”
The Mayor has acknowledged that further savings may be found during the budget setting process between now and next year, and has indicated that if they can be found without affecting front line services, they will not be used to reduce the Authority’s budget, and instead be used to reduce the amount of reserves that the Authority is using to fund the budget.
Ends.
Notes for editors
The meeting will take place at 2pm, Thursday 20 in the Assembly Chamber, City Hall, The Queen’s Walk, London SE1 2AA
The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority runs the London Fire Brigade.
Details of items for discussion are available to read on the London Fire Brigade website, http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/
