THE average household will pay just over £70 towards the work of the fire service next year.

The Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority met on Thursday to approve a budget of £53.75m for 2017/18. The authority has asked for an average of between 2p and 3p more per week from homeowners across Swindon, Wiltshire and Dorset.

The service, which merged last year, has one of the lowest operating budgets in the country. The small increase in the amount people will see on their council tax bills is designed to allow the service to increase its level of prevention and protection related activity.

Such work has led to fire and rescue services across the UK driving down the number of fires by 50 per cent over the past ten years.

Chief Fire Officer Ben Ansell said: “Members have approved a Band D fire precept that is well below the national average.

“This year, we also received one of the largest funding reductions of all combined authorities, as the Government has granted us 12.3 per cent less than last year.

"Despite that, we are investing even more in our on-call firefighters who are so essential to maintaining fire cover in our predominantly rural areas.

“Alongside this, we are completely committed to our prevention and protection activities, targeting those most at risk at home, at work or on the roads.

"We will continue working with all our partners, with a focus this year on the new Safety Centre in Swindon, more Salamander courses as well as the Safe Drive Stay Alive programme for schools and the military.

"Together with local authorities and health partners, we will deliver a range of schemes that will positively benefit all of our communities.”

Coun Rebecca Knox, chairman of the authority, said: “We deliver so much to our local communities, from a 24/7 emergency response to an ever increasing range of personal and business safety activities, and we are as committed as ever to investing in firefighter safety.”