The Hope
Last month's County Council meeting saw a glimmer of hope emerge from the gloom that hangs over West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.
County Councillor Michael
Jones submitted a resolution calling on Council Leader Louise Goldsmith and Cabinet Member Debbie
Kennard to write to the Government to demand fairer funding, after it emerged that all neighbouring fire & rescue services receive more Government funding than West Sussex.
2019/20 Government funding for fire & rescue service (per person)
Michael Jones had previously met with Debbie Kennard to seek her support for the motion. The funding inequalities were plain to see, so there was nothing to lose and everything to gain by writing to the Government. Astonishingly she refused, with the ludicrous excuse that she wanted to wait for the inspection report on West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). A report that is not due until May 2019, by which time the funding settlement will have taken effect.
Fortunately, the majority of
Councillors, including Council Leader Louise Goldsmith, saw sense and passed the resolution. Of the 64 Councillors present, only
Debbie Kennard and 5 others voted against (Richard Burrett, Roger Elkins, Paul
Marshall, Jacquie
Russell and Deborah
Urquhart). So, if you live in any of the following County Council Divisions, you may want to ask your County Councillor why they don't think fair treatment of their residents and firefighters is worth supporting:
Angmering & Findon,
East Preston & Ferring, Pound Hill, Shoreham North, and Storrington
Michael Jones has since written to Louise Goldsmith urging her not to delay calling on the Government for fairer funding for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. I very much hope that she will and that she will also call on West Sussex Members of Parliament to support fairer funding. They surely can't support the Government giving East Sussex over twice as much as it gives to West Sussex!
The Despair
Michael Jones also called on the Council to not reduce fire & rescue staffing or services, because it would further compromise public and firefighter
safety. Incredulously, Debbie Kennard said that the proposed cuts were
not cuts. It is simply ludicrous to claim that £700,000 of cuts
that will reduce staffing in planning, prevention and response services, as well as abandoning the ‘Safe Drive Stay Alive’ courses, which help reduce deaths and injuries on the road, are not cuts.
These are front-line life saving services that are being cut.
Opposition Councillors put forward strong arguments in support of the motion to stop further cuts, but Debbie Kennard failed to respond to any of them. Instead she attacked Councillors for daring to voice legitimate concerns about firefighter and public safety.
She complained about Councillors not ‘working together’, yet her written response to the motion showed that she doesn’t have the slightest intention of doing so. She complained about the fire & rescue service being used as a 'political football', but she was the one who used firefighters’ hard work, mental health and charity fundraising to try and defend her political decisions.
Lowest of the low was when she held up a photo of the Shoreham air display tragedy and used it to try and deflect criticism. She should be ashamed.
Unfortunately, the Conservative Councillors opposed the resolution to not cut staffing or services and it was lost (13 Councillors supported, 33 opposed and 17 abstained).
The cuts are now due to be debated by the Council’s
Environment, Communities and Fire Select Committee on 14 January. We are fortunate to have genuine and responsible Councillors, like Michael Jones and Daniel Purchese, fighting for firefighters and residents and against such reprehensible antics. I am sure they will continue the fight at that meeting.
Finally, a message for Councillor Kennard. The cuts proposed by Nicola Bulbeck, the Executive Director Communities and Public Protection, result from your instruction to cut the budget. They are cuts that will make West Sussex less safe and no amount of avoidance, deflection or evasion will change that.
I am sure fire & rescue service staff appreciate your praise for their dedication, but what they really need is a properly funded service that enables them to do the job safely and effectively. That is also something that has widespread public support.
Finally, a message for Councillor Kennard. The cuts proposed by Nicola Bulbeck, the Executive Director Communities and Public Protection, result from your instruction to cut the budget. They are cuts that will make West Sussex less safe and no amount of avoidance, deflection or evasion will change that.
I am sure fire & rescue service staff appreciate your praise for their dedication, but what they really need is a properly funded service that enables them to do the job safely and effectively. That is also something that has widespread public support.
