POICE MERGER OPPOSED

At its meeting on Thursday last week, the authority declared that it wanted to work with the Home Office and neighbouring counties to develop proposals for a scheme in which the Home Secretary used his statutory powers to direct forces to work together to close the gap in protective services, such as counter-terrorism and organised crime.

They unanimously declined to identify a preferred merger option among those being supported by the Home Secretary, and added: 'The present headlong rush to structural reorganisation of the police service in Sussex should be halted.'

The resolution added: 'Any new arrangements must enhance both local accountability and effective policing, and produce the necessary efficiency savings to be used to fill the gap in protective services.'

The federal approach has been supported by six West Sussex MPs and the authority will be seeking the support of East Sussex and Brighton and Hove MPs.

In the meantime the authority said it was not able to propose any voluntary amalgamation between Sussex and its neighbours.