England's Finest Gareth Southgate

 

It has been a welcome boost to the nation to have our England football team get to their second successive European Championship final. Our third major final in English football history, it was the first one abroad and the second one for Gareth Southgate as manager. He also has the achievement of managing England to the World Cup semi-final in 2018, one of only three ever achieved.

I write immediately after watching the final where England gave it their all and provided a thrilling evening of entertainment and drama for the nation. There is no shame in losing to Spain. They were the best team in the tournament who won all their matches, including against other top teams. They are arguably the best national side in the world right now.

Gareth Southgate’s eight years longevity and performance record as England’s manager is the best of modern times. I’m quite sure there will be national recognition in the near future, but I hope we can finally get something locally sorted out to recognise the achievements of Crawley’s most famous son. We do need to seriously look at this, but we also need to get it right and ensure that recognition is fitting and long lasting.

We have a proud history of sporting heroes in Crawley. Back in March this year, I was pleased to attend an event at K2 Crawley to unveil 12 new names and portraits to the sporting wall on the ground floor taking the total to 25, a kind of wall of fame. It is surprising how many top sportsmen and women are either from Crawley or have a strong connection with our town. It is good that they are showcased in this way and we should never shy away from celebrating success, whether that be in sport, business, academia, or any walk of life.    

Alongside Gareth Southgate, others on there include sporting heroes of yesteryear such as the late Alan Minter, Daley Thompson, Sally Gunnell and Sharron Davies. We can look forward to seeing more inspirational sportsmen and women at the Paris Olympics from Friday next week.

We are committed to giving you a voice

The outcome of the general election was disappointing, but democracy prevailed and power transferred seamlessly. Labour has inherited inflation back down to 2%, strong economic growth, low unemployment, and official projections of falling immigration levels and falling hospital waiting lists. 

I am proud of the Conservative campaign we fought in Crawley. Zack Ali was an excellent candidate who worked incredibly hard, but we couldn’t stop the national tide that delivered a very bad set of Conservative results. 

I congratulate Peter Lamb on his election as Crawley’s MP at his second attempt and wish him well in his new role. Ironically, he secured 1,200 more votes on his first attempt in 2019 when trying to make Jeremy Corbyn UK Prime Minister, but Labour’s fall in votes this time was exceeded by the fall in the Conservative vote from our 2019 high. It was also not lost on me that while Reform came a distant third in Crawley, the number of votes they received was over one and a half times the gap between Labour and Conservative. 

This was mirrored in many constituencies across the country and has significantly contributed to Labour’s super-majority of 172 seats. Two thirds of parliamentary seats being won by Labour with only a third of the popular vote has raised some eyebrows. 33.7% vote share doesn’t feel like a huge national mandate for Labour, but I take the view that it was down to us Conservatives performing badly with only 24.3% of the overall vote, and that our focus should be on working to regain support, rather than complaining about parliamentary outcomes when we lost.

The political landscape has dramatically changed. We are at risk of a one-party state in Crawley. In May, Labour gained five council seats from us Conservatives to make the council 25 Labour and 11 Conservative, and now they have the MP who is part of a Labour super-majority. In Crawley, for the 40% of registered electors who didn’t vote, and for those who did vote, the 62% who didn’t vote Labour, us remaining Conservative councillors are committed to giving you a voice. 

A strong performance by our West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in 2023/24

Every year, fire services are legally required to publish an annual report called the Statement of Assurance. If you are interested in finding out about what the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service have been doing over the last year, I strongly recommend clicking on the link below and having a read. The document is intended to be accessible and easy to digest and understand. 

This is the Statement of Assurance for the fiscal year of 2023/24.  

This annual report provides the fire authority with confidence that the fire and rescue service is meeting its strategic objectives. I'm very pleased to say this report clearly evidences the great progress that West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service is making to deliver on the commitments set out in the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), which is the the four-year plan for the fire service. 

The performance indicators are exceptionally strong with out of the 30 recorded measures, 26 were Green, 2 were Amber and 2 were Red. A great team effort, our fire service has performed brilliantly over the last year and I'm really proud to be the County Council's Cabinet Member for Fire & Rescue, and that we've invested in the service and provided the support that has helped our fire service to thrive.     

I've reproduced below some of the highlights of the report.   

• This financial year gave the service its first 12-months working to its new automatic fire alarm policy. The policy change has resulted in a 66% reduction in unwanted fire signals, allowing fire crews to be more effective with their time by undertaking community-based risk reduction activities and essential training. 

• The service has exceeded its target of delivering 5,000 Safe and Well Visits. A total of 5,335 were completed, and an additional 1,333 Home Fire Safety Interventions were carried out in homes where no person was identified as having a listed vulnerability, but a visit has been agreed with multi-agency partners (such as the Fostering & Adoption Service). 

• His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services published their Spotlight report into the values and culture across the sector, which noted widespread discrimination, harassment and bullying. While West Sussex was not mentioned, WSFRS continues to build a culture of psychological safety where every aspect of work aligns with the National Fire Chiefs Council’s Core Code of Ethics. 

• Wellbeing support dogs were introduced to improve the wellbeing of staff and offer support for those living through stressful circumstances. 

• Platinum House, the service’s new training centre and fire station for Horsham, opened in July. The site now provides a central location for all staff to train at which ties into Strategic Priority 5 of the service’s CRMP (making the best use of resources). 

• These achievements took place against the backdrop of a busy year operationally. Incidents of note include a significant fire at The Harvester in Littlehampton on 10 August 2023 where firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to adjoining buildings. In late October firefighters also prevented over 30,000 homes in the Bognor Regis area from losing power when a substation on Shripney Road flooded.