'˜No one will benefit'

On Friday, commissioner David Lloyd announced his intention to take control of the county’s fire authority, courtesy of new rules being introduced by the government. This could see him join, or replace, the fire authority which is currently run by the county council.

But Chris White, leader of the Liberal Decmorats at County Hall, could not see any benefits to the plans.

He said: “I’m appalled.

“One of the benefits we have in Hertfordshire is the fire service is entirely integrated with the county council. That means they can work on projects which are beyond the scope of other fire services.

“The current situation means that we benefit from sharing services and sharing overheads – it works better and it costs less.

“The only result of this change that I can see is that costs will go up, benefits will go down, and it will be less democratic. No-one will benefit.”