20/01/14 – West Sussex Labour Press Release - Labour sounds alarm over Fire and Rescue cuts proposed by Tory County Council
Labour County Councillor Michael Jones has challenged the proposals by the Tory controlled West Sussex County Council to further cut the Fire and Rescue service in the County.
The Cabinet Member for Residents Services Lionel Barnard (Con, Henfield) refused to rule out redundancies or even compulsory redundancies of firefighters when questioned by Cllr Jones at last week's meeting of the Environmental and Community Services Select Committee held at County Hall.
- The Tory controlled County Council intends to implement a further £141 million of cuts to the council's budget on top of £79 million already cut over the past three years.
- This will include proposals to cut nearly three million pounds from the budget for future Fire and Rescue arrangements, including over half a million pounds in reductions to "crewing arrangements" and "back office support".
- This is on top of previous cuts which have seen the closure of Fire Stations at Bosham, Keymer and Findon, the loss of 6 appliances, a reduction of approximately 50 personnel in the number of officers available to respond to Incidents and a major reduction in support staff who provide key support to the front line service.
Labour County Councillor Michael Jones (Southgate and Crawley Central) said:
"The county has already lost significant numbers of firefighters. My bottom line is that the county council must not take risks with public safety. Can the Cabinet Member confirm to this committee will there be no redundancies of fire crew and most importantly can he promise that there will be no compulsory redundancies?"
"As for the review of back office support, does he not share my concern that this will reduce fire officers' capacity to do prevention work?"
Cllr Barnard claimed that he did not foresee redundancies but he was not in a position to promise anything. The reduction in back office support hampering firefighters' prevention work was a legitimate concern, but again he claimed one that councillors did not need to have.
The Tory controlled Select Committee endorsed the Cabinet Member's savings proposals for the Residents' Services budget, with only Cllr Jones voting against endorsing it.
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Jones added:
"Any further reduction to staffing or operational capabilities in West Sussex Fire and Rescue is in danger of putting both the public and firefighters at risk".
"My deep concern is that these figures have been raised as a target for the Tory council looking only at the balance sheets, and not a judgement on reasonable savings. It is ridiculous that councillors are being asked to endorse such vague proposals and there is no detail on exactly what is being proposed when we ask".
"We need a full debate and specific detail on what is proposed regarding these cuts so that the impact can be properly considered. This is particularly important in relation to any proposed changes to the current crewing arrangements on Fire Stations and firefighter numbers."