Norfolk search and rescue team faces closure due to funding withdrawal

USAR team helping with aircraft crash

An urban search and rescue team set up after the 9/11 attacks in New York faces being shut down if funding is withdrawn, a council meeting heard.

Norfolk's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) was one of 20 set up in England and Wales following the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Norfolk County Council has been told the Home Office is withdrawing its funding of £830,000.

The Home Office said it was reviewing all USAR teams.

The Norfolk USAR is part of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service and is funded directly by government.

It deals with building collapses, large transport incidents as well as missing people searches, flooding and water rescues.

Conservative Margaret Dewsbury, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for communities, said the Home Office might not continue its annual funding of £830,000 for the service.

She told councillors that the authority was objecting to the withdrawal of funding and had written to the Home Office.

"With the current financial situation we cannot find the extra funding and we cannot afford to lose this team," she said.

"The Home Office is not doing away with all the urban search and rescue teams.

"They're just trying to save money from five teams and ours is one of them."

The Home Office would not comment on the future funding of Norfolk's USAR service.

It said: "USAR is kept under constant review to ensure it provides good value for money and it is fit for purpose."