DURING the worst budget restraints Dorset has ever seen, the county has struggled to cope in the past 12 months after experiencing confirmed cuts of around £67million.

Although the full extent of the cuts is still not clear, the county has already lost hundreds of jobs, businesses and services to the cutbacks since the Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010.

The knock-on effect will add many more millions to the final bill.

In this week-long special report chief reporter Miriam Phillips, will look at the worst affected areas, how our local authorities are coping with the changes and how our county hospital has pulled itself out from its spiralling financial black hole.

Today we will look at how the cutbacks will affect the county’s police, fire and coastguard services.

Here the Echo speaks to chief fire officer Darran Gunter and police Chief Constable Martin Baker.

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FRONTLINE firefighters could be cut if the force cannot find £2million, according to Dorset’s Chief Fire Officer.

Speaking at a Dorset Fire Authority meeting on Tuesday, chief fire officer Darran Gunter said: “I guess we continue the journey into the unknown but we do know there’s going to be more uncertainty.”

Mr Gunter said £2million had already been saved from a budget of £29million but realistically the fire service was not going to be able to find another £2million and would need to make further cuts, which could impact ‘frontline’ firefighters.

The meeting heard that ‘the front line’ had previously been spared although vacancies had been ‘held’ and overtime expenditure levels had risen as a result.

Mr Gunter said: “'In March 2010, the Chancellor announced that the Fire and Rescue Service have a grant reduction of 25 per cent over four years.

“As one of the most cost-effective fire and rescue services, Dorset will not be exempt from this and over the last 18 months have begun implementing a number of measures, particularly in terms of support services.

“These include reductions in staff numbers, loss of managerial positions and closer working with our partners.

“It is anticipated that over the next two to three years the budget cuts for the Fire and Rescue Service will be even more severe and, while approximately £2million has already been saved from a budget of £29million, it will be difficult to find further savings that address a budget deficit forecast of £2million without considering changes to frontline services.”

He added: “Members of the Dorset Fire Authority and officers will not make these decisions lightly and over the next nine months a small working group will be looking in depth at the options, including the risks and cost benefits associated with a range of options.

“It is anticipated that options will be considered by the Fire Authority in September 2012 and thereafter public consultation in readiness for the April 2013 budget.”

Mr Gunter said options may impact firefighters, ‘suggest tactics and safety may be compromised’, lower attendance time, or require planning approval – some ‘may even lead to a public inquiry’, as had happened in Berkshire.

Other measures being considered by the authority include increasing their council tax precept.

Pay freezes to affect moral

DORSET Police are fighting ‘low morale’ within its force after being forced to make £6.3million worth of cuts this year.

Earlier this year the Dorset Police Authority said they had to make ‘their hardest decision to date’ after announcing plans to axe 248 jobs in order to save £18million over the next four years compared to the 2010/11 budget.

By March 31, the force expects to have reduced its staffing by 110 officers and 193 civilian staff.

Chief Constable Martin Baker, pictured left, said: “A recruitment freeze will continue throughout 2012 which, combined with a natural turnover of staff, will result in a reduction of a further 134 officers and staff, bringing the total number to 437. “Future reductions may be required but the level of these will depend on a number of externally determined factors such as grant settlements, non-staff savings and pay and pension reform, which will be closely monitored over the course of next year.

“The £18million the force needs to save is compares to the 2010/11 budget. The latest projections are that the force will need to save £8.1million over the remaining three years of the Comprehensive Spending Review rising to £9.3million by 2015/16.”

Now the chairman of Dorset Police Federation says the government is failing in its duty to protect the public by ploughing ahead with plans to cut 16,000 police officers.

Clive Chamberlain says cuts in police officers and police staff, a pay freeze, rising pensions and a review of pay bandings have led to a low morale in the service.

It comes after Dorset Police received one of the lowest settlements in the country this time next year He added: “I have grave concerns for what is happening. Everyone understands that in the current climate cuts are necessary. But it’s how fast and where they are cutting. They are cutting a police service at a time when crime is going to rise.

“It is going to be Christmas for criminals, not just now but all year. That’s why I think they are failing in their duty to protect the public but they don't seem to want to listen.”

Mr Chamberlain’s comments follow a warning from shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper yesterday who said morale among officers is at ‘rock bottom’.

Ms Cooper said: “Each and every one of us rely on the police – to maintain law and order, to sustain respect for the rule of law, to prevent crime, bring criminals to justice, to keep us safe and to give us confidence in our society.”

Labour has launched an independent commission on the future of policing.

• The government has been accused of ‘strangling’ emergency cover in British waters after a report said one in 12 coastguard jobs has been axed.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said further ‘massive’ cuts were in the pipeline, as well as privatisation of search and rescue services.

Portland Coastguard will close in just over three years and the search and rescue helicopter will be axed in 2017 in a double blow to Dorset’s coastal community.

Around 50 jobs will go and hundreds of thousands of pounds will disappear from the local economy.

Coastguard controllers based at a site in Fareham near Portsmouth in Hampshire will take over co-ordinating rescues along the Dorset coast when the station on Weymouth harbourside shuts.

It is one of eight co-ordination centres around the UK which will close by the end of March, 2015, with a total loss of 159 jobs.

More than 20 people are based at Portland Coastguard’s operations base.

When the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter disappears from the skies taking a further 20 jobs will be lost from the area.

The cost-cutting plans will see national search and rescue operations handed over from the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force to civilian crews.

The union said Parliamentary answers from the government showed that one in 12 coastguard posts had been axed since May 2010, while eight coastguard centres were set to be closed with the loss of another 159 jobs.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “Life-or-death emergency cover in British waters is being slowly strangled by this ConDem government’s slash-and-burn approach to the most vital of public services.

“From the coastguards to search and rescue to the emergency tugs that put out the fires, every last shred of the safety net is being ripped apart.

“This isn't cutting the fat, it's smashing into the very bones of services. It’s dicing with death.”

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