Shropshire’s fire chief has called on government ministers to use a scalpel rather than an axe on the authority’s budget – and warned front-line services across the county could be hit if cuts run deeper than expected.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service is trying to make savings of £3 million over four years to offset an expected 25 per cent cut in the cash it receives from government in next week’s Spending Review.

But chief fire officer Paul Raymond, speaking at the latest Join The Conversation meeting in Bridgnorth last night, warned it would be “very difficult to deliver a fire service, full stop” if any more money was taken away.

He said: “We are not taking an axe to services, we are using a scalpel. We have a budget of £21 million and we are estimating £3 million will be taken out of that.

“It means trying to protect the fire engines and trying to protect vulnerable people the most.

“But if it goes above £3 million, I have made it very clear it then becomes difficult to deliver a fire service full stop.”

Mr Raymond said bigger authorities in metropolitan areas of the country were better equipped to deal with cuts.

“We will take our fair share of the cuts but we ask for just that – a fair share.”

Coping with government cutbacks and the recession were the main topics of the meeting at the council chambers in Westgate, where about 30 people turned out to quiz council, health, police and fire officials.

One audience member said public sector workers with high levels of absenteeism should be the first to go.

But Superintendent Pete Lightwood, of West Mercia Police’s Shropshire division, said: “I am not seeing any police staff sickness in this current climate, and I think it is precisely because jobs are under threat.”

And Professor Rod Thomson, director of public health for Shropshire County Primary Care Trust (PCT), added: “In any organisation there may be people who swing the lead, but most of the people who work for us put in phenomenal hours because they actively believe in the service.”

By Wayne Beese