Key changes between 1974 and 2024
West Sussex was enlarged in 1974 and for the next 35 years the Conservative’s management of the fire & rescue service could be considered adequate. However, during the last 14 years this has deteriorated dramatically and worryingly it is continuing to deteriorate.
Misleading information and false claims
With County Council elections next year it is important that misleading information and false claims from the Council's Conservative leadership are exposed. At a recent meeting, Cabinet Member Duncan Crow claimed that they had increased the number of firefighters. Home Office figures show that is not true, they have been reduced significantly.
Duncan Crow is also fond of claiming that fire deaths have fallen as a result of prevention work. That is untrue. The number of fire deaths fluctuates year by year, so more than one year has to be examined to get a true indication of changes.
Unfortunately for Councillor Crow, the most recent five year average shows a worrying increase in fire deaths compared to the five year average before the County Council began their cuts to frontline fire crews.
The Conservatives cannot be trusted to run our Fire & Rescue Service
