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East and West Sussex fire and rescue service merger halted


Published on Thursday 2 February 2012 13:36

A PROPOSAL to merge West Sussex and East Sussex fire and rescue services to save millions of pounds has been abandoned for the time being, West Sussex County Council has announced.

The news was revealed to the Mid Sussex Times today by Pete Bradbury, county councillor for Cuckfield and Lucastes in Haywards Heath.

Cllr Bradbury, the WSCC Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said uncertainty caused by the Local Government resources review being conducted by the Government mean that it was impossible to know what funding for fire and rescue services was going to be available.

Cllr Bradbury said: “Although we can’t fully merge the two services we can develop parts of them together to drive up the savings. The analogy I would draw is that although we can’t get married we can still live together.”

One area were the county council hopes to save around £1m a year is the merging the two control rooms that currently exist - in Eastbourne for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and in Chichester for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.

The county council is now looking at various options in a bid to find a “mutally convenient location” for a joint control centre, with a preference for somewhere on the A23 corridor, and a deadline of the end of March for a decision to be made.

Cllr Bradbury said: “Clearly there is going to be some rationalisation but we are not expecting any compulsory redundancies.”

He added that he believed the merger of control centres would contribute towards a better service for the public with collaboration in areas such as heath and safety and training.

WSCC has to find savings of £79m over the next three years due to reductions in its central government grant.

West Sussex Fire and Rescue service is looking to find savings of £2.5m in 2013/14 with East Sussex Fire Authority required to cut £1.3m from its budget.


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Weather for Haywards Heath

Saturday 26 May 2012

5 day forecast

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