DORSET residents will pay a 1.99 per cent increase in their council tax fire precept for over the next financial year, it has been announced.

The Shadow Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Authority has agreed a budget of £54.815 million to run the new combined fire service.

Chief Fire Officer (Designate) Darran Gunter said: "In an ideal world we would not be increasing fire precept. However, our share of the average Band D council tax bill is still significantly less than many of our partners, including a large number of town and parish councils.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service comes into being this April, as part of a merger agreed as the best way forward to protect frontline services.

The shadow authority approved a 1.99 per cent increase on its existing £67.86 precept at a meeting on Friday.

This means all residents living in Band D properties in Bournemouth, Poole, Dorset, Swindon and Wiltshire will pay £69.21 for the new combined fire and rescue service within their council tax, starting April 1. This amount equates to 19 pence per day.

Mr Gunter said: "The new service is facing a 30per cent reduction in government grant over the next four years, and it is this financial uncertainty that was a key factor in our decision to combine.

"Through combination, we are achieving savings in excess of £6 million and we are confident that we are finding new ways of working.

"Our priority remains the delivery of an efficient, effective and sustainable fire and rescue service across Bournemouth, Dorset, Poole, Swindon and Wiltshire, and the budget agreed by the Shadow Fire and Rescue Authority gives us a foundation to achieve this."