Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

From the 1 April 2004 Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority became a precepting authority for the first time. This means that we raise our own council tax. View our council tax leaflet PDF 1Mb.

From 1 April 1997 Hampshire County Council and the City Councils of Portsmouth and Southampton became fire authorities in their own right. To avoid fire services being fragmented, combined fire authorities were established for all county councils affected by local government reorganisation.

A Hampshire Combination Scheme Order came into force on 20 November 1996, this Order created the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority (HFRA) comprising twenty-five members (councillors) appointed by the constituent councils in proportion to the number of local government electors in their respective areas. At present the County Council appoints nineteen members and the City Councils three members each (see table below). This may alter in the future should significant variations occur in the respective electorates of the three constituent authorities.

The current Chief Officer is John Bonney and the Authority's Chairman is Councillor Royston Smith. The Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council, Andrew Smith, undertakes the role of Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the HFRA, and Carolyn Williamson, the County Treasurer of Hampshire County Council, is its Treasurer.

Table showing political make up of the HFRA
Political Party	Hampshire County Council	Portsmouth City Council	Southampton City Council	Totals
Conservative	12	1	2	15
Labour	1	0	0	1
Liberal Democrat	6	1	0	8
Totals	19	2	2	23

Please note there are currently two vacancies on the Fire Authority, one each from Southampton and Portsmouth City Councils.