Essex County Fire and Rescue makes a £200,000 “profit” every year in delivering a service to Frinton and Walton it plans to reduce.

Figures released by the service to the town council reveal that Frinton & Walton pays £501,000 a year in council tax for its fire service, which in turn costs just £300,000 to deliver.

The admission stems from a letter the town council sent to acting chief executive and acting chief fire officer Adam Eckley following a recent meeting he held with town councillors on the planned removal of one of Frinton’s two fire engines.

Town Clerk Myrna Liles wrote: “I am sorry that it ended so abruptly but the strong feelings of our members has been fed up from our residents and I believe they all feel really frustrated that our service is diminishing and we are unable to do anything about it.”

Mrs Liles further told Essex Fire and Rescue residents and councillors felt “out on a limb” and she sought reassurance they wouldn’t suffer from “this ill informed decision” to remove the fire engine.

She also asked how much it cost to provide the service from Frinton, saying residents should not have to pay for improvements elsewhere if their own service was being cut.

Mr Eckley replied that despite Frinton’s impending loss of one engine, there would be “no change to the resources mobilised to incidents” in Frinton and Walton as residents would have access to services from elsewhere.

“I therefore cannot agree with your suggestion that the Fire Authority is cutting the service we will provide in Frinton and Walton,” he said.

“Your suggestion that we should not reduce the distribution of resource because of the Council Tax raised in within an area is misconstrued,” he continued. Instead, it should be based on ‘need.’ Mr Eckley confirmed Frinton and Walton residents pay £501,000 of council tax to the fire authority, while “we estimate the current cost of providing and supporting the fire station in Frinton is around £300,000 per annum.”

The letter was discussed briefly at Thursday’s town council meeting.

Town and district councillor Nick Turner lamented the poor or reduced services people receive for their council tax.

“We put in more than enough,” he said.

Deputy mayor Robert Bucke commented: “Why change something you are making a profit on?”