The London Assembly have called on the Government to increase funding for the London Fire Brigade.
At its meeting today, following questions to the Val Shawcross, Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and Ken Knight, Commission for Fire and Emergency Planning, the Assembly agreed a motion from Bob Blackman AM and Geoff Pope AM which stated:
“This Assembly pays tribute to the exemplary performance of the London Fire Brigade on 7 July whilst recognising that lessons learnt on that day have identified enhancements that are required to enable a resilient response to concurrent major incidents and demands that the Government funds these in full and that an unfair burden is not placed on London Council Tax payers.”
Sally Hamwee, Chair of the London Assembly said: ” London’s Fire Brigade and other emergency services did a sterling job on that dreadful day in July. All the services at today’s and other meetings have told us of the high costs associated with ‘resilience’ measures. The Fire Brigade has identified the need for more equipment and training. The extra costs of protecting London should be met out of central government funding, recognising they are incurred because London is the nation’s capital city”.
