Tariffs after Brexit could affect how soon new fire engines come to Somerset – and how much they will cost.

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service will be spending more than £15M over the next five years on replacement fire engines – with just over £5M being committed for the next 12 months.

The council is planning to phase in the delivery of the new vehicles gradually to spread the cost of borrowing through its capital programme.

But possible tariffs which will come into force after the Brexit transition period could force them to spend more money in advance.

The fire authority is also spending more than £6M this year on either replacing its existing fire stations or building new ones, with most of the work focussing on stations in Devon.

Councillor Simon Coles raised the Brexit issue at a meeting of the fire authority's resources committee in Clyst St George on Thursday morning (February 13).

He said: "Considering that Brexit is happening around us, is there any advantage to purchasing all of our new engines now?"

Amy Webb, the authority's director of finance and resourcing, responded: "We are at the mercy of manufacturing slots.

"We are aware of possible tariffs on chassis coming in, so we may wish to order those in advance."

These decisions come after in a decision in January to implemented a scaled-down version of a programme of station and fire engine closures, known as Safer Together.

While Somerset got to keep its existing station in Porlock, a number of fire engines will be withdrawn from stations in Bridgwater, Martock, Taunton and Yeovil.

Councillor Sara Randall Johnson, who chairs the fire authority, said it was a question of investing in resources where they were most needed.

She said: "Safer Together was not a 'slash and burn' – it was about saying: 'We need to invest and pay people for their availability'.

"We currently have appliances which are rarely used and that are costing us a lot of money.

"A fire engine costs us £300,000 before we put any of our kit in it. What if that only gets used a few times a year? I think the council taxpayers would say: 'Why are they not being used?'.

"It is about making sure we have the right kit in the right place. We are sitting on big reserves, but we are investing them."

The fire authority said no decision had yet been taken on which parts of Somerset (and the wider area it serves) would be getting new fire engines first.