I also have visions of the service becoming more 'centralised', with crews being sucked into the major urban areas, leaving less populated areas lacking cover.

Whilst on the surface this makes sense and savings are welcome, but we need to be certain that we don't put all of our eggs in one basket. We can merge things too far, so that in the event of a civil emergency we simply cannot cope.

Another public money saving scheme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-43124824