Why response times matter and how to make your vote count

Those who try to justify Conservative controlled West Sussex County Council's inadequate fire & rescue service response standards will claim that response times don't matter. They will also falsely claim that the risk to people and property varies according to their geographic location.

Response times matter

Research has shown that fires can double in size every minute. That means twice the amount of material burning and twice the amount of toxic smoke produced every minute. This graph shows that doubling in size against response times. 

It shows that once you get to ten minutes, the opportunity to save lives and property rapidly decreases. That is why, when further research has been carried out to identify optimum response times, the conclusions are usually ten minutes or less. 

Response times for the first fire engine

1 = West Midlands (whole area) - 5 minutes

2 = Hampshire (whole area) - 8 minutes

3 = Surrey (whole area) and 2% of West Sussex - 10 minutes

4 = 37% of West Sussex - 12 minutes

5 = 61% of West Sussex - 14 minutes

 

Risk is NOT different in different locations

Conservative County Councillors would have you believe that most of West Sussex is 'low risk' (blue) and most of the rest 'medium risk' (yellow). Yet, as the previous graph shows, any fire can develop and threaten lives and property just as quickly. Anywhere in West Sussex, from East Wittering to East Grinstead, or from Southwick to South Harting, the risk to lives and property is the same. The location is irrelevant when it comes to how quickly a fire will develop, only a lack of material to burn and any efforts to control it will slow it down.

When the response standards for different areas were approved, they had nothing to do with the real risk to lives and property. They simply set standards they expected could be met with the resources they had. Since then, they have cut four operational fire stations and eleven operational fire engines and crews. 

Inadequate resources mean that it is now impossible for 

firefighters to meet those already inadequate standards. 

How to make your vote count

Someone asked me recently why, when they only had half the votes cast, four in every five County Councillors elected in 2017 were Conservative. They also asked how the other half of voters could be properly represented in future.

2017 County Council Election

Political Party	Votes cast	Councillors elected
Conservative	51%	80%
Others	49%	20%

The long term answer is a change to a properly democratic election system that makes sure that Councillors are elected in proportion to votes. In the short term, however, the only viable option is to vote tactically. Now I know some people are uncomfortable with tactical voting, but if your priority is to prevent the Conservatives continuing their inept, deceitful, secretive and arrogant neglect of the fire & rescue service, it may be your only option.

In case it will help anyone, I have looked at the election results from four years ago to see which parties either beat the Conservatives or came second. Some second and third places were close, so I have shown the votes cast for each. I have also adjusted options where a party is not contesting a seat this time. 

County Council Division	Potential best tactical vote option
Angmering & Findon	Liberal Democrat
Arundel & Courtwick	Labour Party
Bersted	Liberal Democrat
Bewbush & Ifield West	Labour Party
Billingshurst	Liberal Democrat
Bognor Regis East	Liberal Democrat
Bognor Regis West & Aldwick	Liberal Democrat
Bourne	Liberal Democrat
Bramber Castle	Liberal Democrat
Broadbridge	Liberal Democrat
Broadfield	Labour Party
Broadwater	Labour Party
Burgess Hill East	Liberal Democrat
Burgess Hill North	Close (Liberal Democrat 476, Labour Party 463)
Chichester East	Liberal Democrat
Chichester North	Liberal Democrat
Chichester South	Green Party
Chichester West	Liberal Democrat
Cissbury	Close (Liberal Democrat 429, Labour Party 355)
Cuckfield & Lucastes	Liberal Democrat
Durrington & Salvington	Liberal Democrat
East Grinstead Meridian	Close (Labour Party 294, Liberal Democrat 261)
East Grinstead South & Ashurst Wood	Liberal Democrat
East Preston & Ferring	Close (Labour Party 474, Liberal Democrat 427)
Felpham	Close (Labour Party 241, Liberal Democrat 231)
Fontwell	Green Party
Goring	Labour Party
Hassocks & Burgess Hill South	Liberal Democrat
Haywards Heath East	Close (Labour Party 460, Liberal Democrat 438)
Haywards Heath Town	Liberal Democrat
Henfield	Liberal Democrat
Holbrook	Liberal Democrat
Horsham East	Liberal Democrat
Horsham Hurst	Liberal Democrat
Horsham Riverside	Liberal Democrat
Hurstpierpoint & Bolney	Liberal Democrat
Imberdown	Independent (I. P. Gibson)
Lancing	Labour Party
Langley Green & Ifield East	Labour Party
Lindfield & High Weald	Liberal Democrat
Littlehampton East	Liberal Democrat
Littlehampton Town	Liberal Democrat
Maidenbower & Worth	Labour Party
Middleton	Close (Labour Party 256, Liberal Democrat 237)
Midhurst	Liberal Democrat
Northbrook	Liberal Democrat
Northgate & West Green	Labour Party
Nyetimber	Close (Labour Party 280 Green Party 211)
Petworth	Liberal Democrat
Pound Hill	Labour Party
Pulborough	Liberal Democrat
Rother Valley	Liberal Democrat
Rustington	Liberal Democrat
Selsey	Local Alliance
Shoreham North	Labour Party
Shoreham South	Labour Party
Sompting & North Lancing	Labour Party
Southgate & Gossops Green	Labour Party
Southwater & Nuthurst	Liberal Democrat
Southwick	Labour Party
St Leonard’s Forest	Liberal Democrat
Storrington	Liberal Democrat
Tarring	Liberal Democrat
The Witterings	Close (Liberal Democrat 339, Labour Party 282)
Three Bridges	Labour Party
Tilgate & Furnace Green	Labour Party
Worth Forest	Liberal Democrat
Worthing East	Labour Party
Worthing Pier	Labour Party
Worthing West	Labour Party

It is of course impossible to precisely predict which candidates stand the best chance of defeating the Conservatives. The table is simply a guide to the last County Council election results, so it may be worth checking for any recent change in voting habits in your area since then. However, you should note that County Council Divisions cover different areas to borough, district and Parliamentary seats.

Remember, the Conservatives have already been discussing:

• Manipulating statistics to make bad figures look better by removing the worst ones;
• Sending fire engines without enough firefighters on them, simply to make response times look better;
• Preventing Councillors scrutinising their decisions and failures by claiming they are 'operational';
• And even extending the already poor response time targets.

If they secure a majority in this election, the risks we all face will be even greater than they are now.

Our Fire & Rescue Service is not safe

in Conservative hands

Who to vote for on May 6, if you care about your safety and about the fire & rescue service

If you want a fire & rescue service that keeps you safe, then your vote matters on the 6th of May. Please make sure you are registered and that you use your vote in all the elections on that day. If you are already registered, make it easy to vote by applying for a postal vote, but please note that your completed application form must arrive by 20th April.

I am not a member of a political party and my vote is not guaranteed to any particular party. That is because none of them have policies that I am in full agreement with, so when I vote I consider the candidates, their policies and their performance. 

Whilst campaigning in support of our fire & rescue services I have spoken to politicians, local and national, from every political party that will listen. I have yet to decide which candidates will get my vote in May and I will not try to influence anyone else to vote for specific candidates or political parties. 

However, based on past performance, the one thing I am sure of is that I will not be voting for any Conservative candidates. That is because Conservative Government policies and Conservative County Councillors have, over the last ten years, done immense damage to our fire & rescue service. 

As a result, we are all less safe.

Policies and decisions have not only been inept, they have been arrogantly steamrollered through with dishonest claims, unsubstantiated assurances and inadequate scrutiny.

Valid public concerns have been ignored, firefighters bullied,

and opposition Councillors treated with contempt.

Remember this?

There are still just 24 operational fire stations with 11 fewer operational fire engines, but even more incidents are being attended. Conservative Councillors falsely claimed that incidents would decrease, yet they have increased every year since 2015/16.

Even more incidents attended

In 2015, after the second round of cuts to the service, Conservative Cabinet Member Lionel Barnard stepped down. Conservative Leader Louise Goldsmith said at the time that he had left the fire and rescue service "in very good shape".

Just three years later Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services began an inspection that resulted in our fire & rescue service getting the worst report of the 45 services in England. 

Of the three principal areas they reviewed, how staff were looked after was rated inadequate, and both effectiveness and efficiency were rated as requires improvement. Not one of the sub categories achieved an acceptable 'good' rating. None of this was the fault of staff in the service, the blame lies squarely with the inept Council.

The County Council's Conservative administration repeatedly ignored warnings from firefighters, from the public, and from opposition Councillors. Conservative Councillors summarily dismissed genuine concerns as 'scaremongering'. The one well informed Conservative County Councillor who voiced concerns subsequently resigned, and others who dared to ask awkward questions were disciplined.

Conservatives: "in very good shape" = 

Inspectors: "inadequate" & "requires improvement".

We were told in 2014 that planned cuts were 'improvements' that would ensure at least 30 fire engines available around the clock. Despite warnings that the cuts would make fire crew availability worse, the Conservatives stuck their heads in the sand and went ahead. The result was that during the day, less than half that number were available and on occasions as few as ten fire engines were available to cover the whole of West Sussex.

We were told that money taken from operational response, by cutting fire engines and firefighters, would be used for prevention to save more lives. In 2015/16, when the cuts took effect, there were four fire deaths in West Sussex. In the first three quarters of 2020/21 there have already been four fire deaths in West Sussex (quarter four figures have not been released). The number of fire casualties taken to hospital has increased. In 2015/16 it was 43, in 2019/20 (latest full year figures) it was fifty two, a 21% increase.

The Conservative Government is talking about taking the fire & rescue service away from County Councils and giving control to Police & Crime Commissioners. There is no justification for this PCC empire building, and it will give the public even less of a say in how their fire & rescue service is run.

The Fire & Rescue Service should be safer in County Council hands, 

but it will not be safer if those hands are Conservative Party hands.  

Hope and despair at County Council meeting

I would like to begin by wishing everyone a Happy New Year and to thank all those who supported the campaign to stop cuts to the Fire & Rescue Service in 2018. Sadly, it seems the fight must continue in to 2019.

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 Grinstead South & Ashurst Wood, 

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.

West Sussex emergencies could be managed over 200 miles away

It seems that West Sussex County Council is not considering re-opening the mothballed fire control in Chichester, but is considering letting a control room in Cheshire manage West Sussex emergencies.

This change, following the costly decision to abandon the Sussex Control Centre, is shrouded in secrecy. However, reliable reports suggest that only three options are being considered. The North West Fire Control in Cheshire and the fire controls in Hampshire and Surrey. 

It also appears that the decision will be taken by Cabinet Member Debbie Kennard next month. This throws up a number of questions, in addition to why re-opening the West Sussex Fire Control in Chichester is not being considered:

Why were other options ruled out?

What company provides the mobilising systems to the control rooms being considered?

How can WSCC be sure they will work with all the systems in West Sussex that they will need to connect to?

Did consultants recommend withdrawing from the Sussex Control Centre?

East Sussex said the problems were not with the mobilising system, but with other systems in East Sussex, so was the mobilising system tested with West Sussex systems?

Where is the report on those tests?

Who were the consultants and were they properly independent?

Did consultants recommend the options being considered?

Who were the consultants and were they properly independent?

Why are their reports not publicly available?

Why is the decision being taken without consultation with the public?

Why is the decision being taken without consulting the relevant County Council scrutiny committee?

Inept decisions have already cost taxpayers millions of pounds. To avoid further waste the next steps must be considered carefully, transparently and with proper scrutiny.