Funding to prepare Sussex for emergencies such as terrorism and flooding has been slashed by ten per cent.

East Sussex County Council's civil defence budget has been cut from £231,002 to £207,902 in 2002/3.

West Sussex County Council is to get £225,000 compared with £250,000 this year.

The reductions are part of a shake-up in the way the Government grants are allocated.

The cuts are even bigger than ten per cent once inflation is taken into account.

But Brighton and Hove City Council enjoys an inflation-busting 16 per cent increase, taking its total to £80,786.

The money is provided by the Cabinet Office. A spokesman said councils suffering a funding cut from April had received above-inflation increases in recent years.

The amount handed to each local authority was now partly decided on the basis of population, rather than according to the size of each area.

John Williams, emergency planning officer for West Sussex, said the cut had been expected and county councillors had already agreed to make good any shortfall so services were not put at risk.

Mr Williams said the cut was being made as part of a Government decision to switch money away from shire counties like West Sussex to unitary authorities.

A spokeswoman for East Sussex County Council said: "We can't say much about it at this stage but cuts in any budget are never a good thing."