A consultation which will likely see one of two engines removed from Loughton fire station has finished today (April 25).

For the last 12 weeks, Essex Fire and Rescue Service has invited opinions on three options for change in the coming years – each involving Loughton station losing one engine.

Waltham Abbey station could also change from a ‘day crewed’ unit to an on-call engine, normally reserved for evenings and weekends.

The changes are being considered as the service seeks to make drastic cuts of between £6.4m and £10m.

With funding cuts coming annually between now and 2020, each of the three options will see other stations around the county losing engines, going down to a possible minimum of 64.

Thousands of people, councils and other organisations responded to the consultation, which started in February.

Acting chief fire officer Adam Eckley said: “The number of responses we have had to this consultation has been nothing short of fantastic.

“It is great to see the people of Essex making their voices and opinions about the future of their fire service heard as we prepare for the future.

“Now work will begin to analyse the results before they are presented to the Essex Fire Authority for a decision in June.”

Despite the loss of the engines the service claims it will reach 90 per cent of incidents within 15 minutes and all life-threatening calls in an average of 10 minutes, whichever option is picked.