AUDIO: Fire engines lost in Horsham and Storrington as part of cost-cutting measures

Under proposals an engine from Horsham fire station will join Littlehampton - an area with more of an operational demand.

Meanwhile it is planned that Storrington will lose a fire engine. This would leave crews with one fire engine and a 4x4 vehicle.

The plans are designed to save £1.6million from the Service’s budget for 2015/16, without impacting on its response to emergencies or response standards.

Chief fire office Sean Ruth said: “The number of emergency calls we receive has fallen, and the types of incident we respond to has changed. We need to adapt our service to reflect this. We have done a huge amount to target prevention work to those most at risk. We want to continue to work even more closely with communities to reduce the likelihood of emergencies.”

Plans will be considered by West Sussex County Council’s Environment and Community Services Select Committee on Wednesday May 14, after which a decision on whether they should go forward for public consultation will be taken the cabinet member for residents’ services.