A committee has advised that plans to cut £400,000 from the West Sussex fire service should be abandoned.

Originally, £200,000 was planned to be cut from the technical rescue unit and £400,000 from the intervention and prevention work.

However, there were safety fears with the cuts, as Labour MP Michael Jones said, “If these savings are supported, lives will be lost in fires and road accidents, people will suffer injuries from horrific burns and be cut out from crashed cars that would not have occurred if this work had been going on.”

The Home Office then informed the council a £450,000 technical rescue grant would be available from the government from April 2020.

The news led to a decision from committee members to cancel the £200,000 cuts to the technical rescue budget, but the further £400,000 of cuts would remain.

Following Mr Jones’ recommendation, the committee agreed to delay the cuts until May this year, when a report on West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate will be published.

Original Source

Chichester Observer