Lincolnshire County Council's Community Safety Scrutiny Committee has recommended approval for proposals to create 20 new wholetime firefighter posts and introduce 24-hour wholetime cover at Grantham Fire Station.
The committee made the recommendation on Tuesday 8 September. The proposals form part of Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue's review of its emergency response arrangements and are designed to strengthen resilience, improve firefighter availability and help ensure the service remains sustainable.
What the proposals include
If approved by the council's Executive in October, Grantham would become Lincolnshire's second 24-hour wholetime fire station. The station would receive 13 new wholetime positions.
An additional firefighter role would also be established at each of the seven remaining wholetime day-crewed stations across Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue's 29 on-call stations would remain unchanged under the proposals.
Public engagement
The scrutiny committee's recommendation follows a public engagement exercise held in August. The engagement gathered feedback from residents, businesses, elected members and stakeholders.
Mark Baxter, Chief Fire Officer at Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, said: "The feedback from our engagement has been invaluable in helping us understand people's views and concerns. In general terms people have understood the rationale behind these proposed changes, and we thank everyone who took part and shared their thoughts."
Baxter added: "The changes look to enhance our wholetime cover when on-call availability is typically at its lowest. On call are a critical part of our service and would absolutely remain so under these or any proposals."
Next steps
The proposals will be considered by Lincolnshire County Council's Executive on 6 October 2026. If approved, implementation would begin from January 2027.
