Calls to abandon cuts to fire service’s prevention work as warning lives will be lost

By Karen Dunn, local democracy reporter
Published 15th Jan 2019, 15:09 BST
Updated 7th Feb 2019, 17:09 BST
Labour county councillor Michael Jones spoke against the cutsLabour county councillor Michael Jones spoke against the cuts
Labour county councillor Michael Jones spoke against the cuts
Plans to cut £400,000 from the West Sussex fire service budget should be abandoned or delayed, a council committee has advised.

The fire service operation budget is one of many to be targeted in the county council’s fight to reduce its spending by £145m over the next four years.

The original plan was to cut £600,000 – £200,000 from the technical rescue unit and £400,000 of intervention and prevention work such as electric blanket testing and the Save Drive Stay Alive programme.

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But an out-of-the-blue letter from the Home Office threw a spoke in the wheel – and gave the council a whole new headache – when it announced the government was to drop a £450,000 technical rescue grant from April 2020.

The loss of this grant came on top of the £145m in government funding taken from West Sussex since 2011.