PONTELAND Town Council has approved proposed changes to the town’s fire service.

At last week’s town council meeting Northumberland‘s assistant chief fire officer Mark McCarty gave a presentation how Ponteland would be affected by proposed changes to the service.

He explained that the if the changes go ahead the fire engine based in Ponteland would be replaced with a smaller model.

He said: “A three-quarter engine is 15-20 per cent cheaper to run than a full sized one.

“And that fire engine will be able to get to absolutely every incident.”

Mr McCarty assured councillors the town would be ‘even safer’ with the smaller engine as its size would make that narrow, winding roads easier to negotiate.

He added: “The unit at Ponteland will be able to respond much more than it currently is.

“At the moment if Ponteland doesn’t have the requisite personnel numbers then they are not on the run and you are covered by Tyne and Wear over the border.

“With this, you will be even safer because they will be able to go with fewer personnel.”

The town council gave no objection to the proposed changes to Northumberland Fire and Rescue service.

Mayor and town council chairman, Carl Rawlings said: “I can’t see any disadvantages for Ponteland in what is being proposed.”