Bill for fire stations will top £70 million

The total bill for 10 new fire stations in Staffordshire will top £70 million - around £22 million more than they are actually worth.

The money will go to the private consortium which has built the stations under the Private Finance Initiative scheme, which spreads out the cost of the project over the next 25 years.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service have insisted the PFI project was worth the money because the service would never have been able to fund the costs on its own.

It is also argued that the benefits outweigh the long-term costs

The PFI project will see seven fire stations re-built and three new ones created, including the newly-opened Rising Brook fire station in Stafford.

Had the fire service paid for the project on its own in one go it would have cost in the region of £50m to £55m.

Under PFI, the fire service will pay a 'mortgage' payment of approximately £900,00-a-year of taxpayers' money to the private firms.

They will also be subject to charges and costs for making any changes to the buildings.

After the 25-year period ends, the stations will belong to the fire service in totality and are predicted to have a life of at least another 30 years. The Government also invested approximately £50 million into the plan.

The consortium, called Fire Support, is made up of a number of private companies who will work together to deliver the project.

This will see three new stations built at Rising Brook in Stafford, Sandyford in Stoke-on-Trent, and Belgrave in Tamworth. Seven other stations will be re-built at Uttoxeter, Cannock, Hanley, Newcastle, Burslem, Kidsgrove and Tamworth.

Steve Knight, PFI programme director at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue, said the deal was a good one for taxpayers. He said the deal was at a low interest rate with limited costs and safeguards for taxpayers.