FIRE chiefs in Cheshire could be braced for difficult financial decisions in the years to come, councillors have been warned.

Allan Rainford, treasurer of Cheshire Fire Authority, told members last week that he is ‘fairly confident’ a balanced budget will be delivered in 2019-20.

But Mr Rainford warned the authority – which includes cross-party councillors from Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Warrington and Halton – that funding for the fire service from April 2020-onwards is ‘very uncertain’.

He said: “The levels of funding that we can expect, including the limit on council tax increases, is very uncertain at the present time.

“We won’t know more until the outcome of the Government’s spending review is announced next year, but we anticipate in the medium-term that the fire authority will have to continue to make significant reductions in spending from 2020-onwards.”

Budget plans for 2019-20 are due to be approved at February’s fire authority meeting.