NINE fire stations in the News Shopper patch, including in Bexley, Greenwich and Woolwich, have been picked out for closure in a devastating new proposal for south-east London.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has told London’s fire service it needs to cut £64m from its two year budget.

London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson has highlighted £14m of back office cuts, so £50m of cuts need to be found elsewhere.

Two plans will be submitted to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) later this week to recommend where that £50m should fall.

Both plans will see widespread cuts and closures to fire services.

The first plan recommends the closure of fire stations at Bexley, Greenwich, Biggin Hill, Deptford, Downham, Eltham, New Cross, Lee Green and Woolwich.

It also recommends adding a fire engine to Orpington, Lewisham and East Greenwich but removing one from Bromley.

Such as plan would see attendance times pushed dramatically back in some areas.

The alternate plan recommends the closure of Biggin Hill, New Cross, Lee Green and Downham, Deptford fire stations.

That plan also includes fire engines being added to Orpington but engines being removed from Bromley, Hayes, Erith and Sidcup.

The Mayor of London will face questions on the proposals on November 21 in Mayor’s Question Time.

London police authorities, who run its fire stations, will find out from the government in January precisely how much money they will be expected to save.

Once the amount is known, a 10 to 12 week public consultation on the planned cuts will be launched and potentially revised plan will be implemented in June.

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: “We expect to be able to maintain our current target response times."