Wandsworth fire station has been recommended to permanently lose one of its two fire engines, as the London Fire Brigade proposes cuts of 13 engines across the capital.

The loss of the second pump would also affect neighbouring wards on the border, such as Barnes Common and Merton Village, as the second engine at incidents would be called from Wandsworth's station. 

Following a consultation on its budget, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) has stated it would prefer to lose the 13 appliances that were put out of service in August 2013 than make cuts to balance the budget by bringing alternate crewing in to stations with special appliances.

It has to cut £6.4m from the budget by 2017/18.

January 21: Wandsworth fire station could face permanent reduction to one engine as response times rise

January 12: London Fire Brigade to consult on permanent removal of one Wandsworth fire engine

November 30: London Fire Brigade braces for £8.1m cuts by 2017

Paul Embery, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) regional secretary for London, said: "This consultation shows that the public acknowledge the dangers to life that will be posed by cutting appliances in our capital so severely.

"No-one wants this, and the LFB Commissioner has to now accept that public opinion does matter.

"Boris Johnson’s awful, unpopular idea to save money isn’t a good one. Lives and safety have to come first."

Figures from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) show fire response times in 12 Wandsworth wards affected by the loss of the second engine have gone up since 2013.

In 2012/13, the average response time in 12 wards was five minutes and 31 seconds.

This went up to five minutes 57 seconds, three seconds off the overall target time of six minutes, for the first engine to reach a fire.

In the same time, the average response time for the second engine to reach the scene jumped to eight minutes six seconds, more than the target of eight minutes.

London fire commissioner, Ron Dobson said: "The 13 fire engines have been out of service for over two and a half years and that impact has seen us maintain our response within our average attendance time targets of six minutes for a first fire engine and eight minutes for a second.

"I appreciate that the removal of fire engines is not popular and but I maintain that in my professional opinion this is the correct way to balance our budget.

"Alternate crewing is an option with merit which is worth exploring further, but I consider the proposal to alternate crews Fire Rescue Units to be operationally unworkable at this time and therefore can not recommend this option."

The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) will receive £382.4m in funding for 2016/17, leaving a £13.2m funding gap.

When the FBU offered to suspend the threat of strike action, £1.7m was saved, and a further £5.1m was cut in departmental savings.

As well as cutting the engines, the brigade will make a one-off payment of £3.5m to the Local Government Pension Scheme, which will result in an ongoing saving of £400,000.

A one-off investment of £1m will be made into the community safety reserve. Both these payments will be funded from a budget surplus expected in 2016/17 of £4.5m.

According to the budget proposal, the community safety money will help identify and support vulnerable residents in London, installing domestic sprinklers, fire retardant bedding and wireless fire detection systems in their homes.

There will be 16 firefighters posts added to the brigade.

A total of 96 people attended the public consultation meetings held across the capital.

The consultation received 1,478 responses, of which the majority were online, and 73 per cent were members of the public.

The consultation cost the brigade £30,962 in printing, staff and venue costs as well as advertising, having a freephone line and running the consultation website.

The final decision on the budget will be made in March.