Agenda item

To invite the Chairman of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service County Councillor Sir Peter Brown and the acting Chief Fire Officer Chris Strickland, to address the Council on recent events and plans for the future.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Sir P Brown, Chairman of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, accompanied by Mr C Strickland, Acting Chief Fire Officer of Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service who had been invited to the meeting to address the Council. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation and handout is appended in the Minute Book.

Sir P Brown opened the discussion by referring to the difficulties experienced by local councillors with the reduction in services through budget cuts and similar effects on the Fire and Rescue Service resulting in an assessment of how to operate more efficiently. Sir P Brown reported that he had been proud to serve as Chairman of the Service for the past three years and had been working with the senior management team on changes to their structure and reviewing the budgets. Members noted that the number of call outs to domestic fires had reduced, which could be attributable to an increase in the number of community visits by Fire Officers to educate on fire prevention.

Mr Strickland continued the discussion by informing Members of his position as Acting Chief Fire Officer that would be made permanent in June 2016. Mr Strickland explained the past 4 years had seen a great period of change, the biggest in 32 years of the Service. The Council noted that £4m had been removed from the £30m budget and a further £3m of savings needed to be identified over the forthcoming 3-4 years. Despite these reductions, it was reported that the Service remained the cheapest in the UK per head of population.

Focussing on the forthcoming year, Mr Strickland outlined to Members details of the staffing restructure at senior management level, involving the departure of the existing Chief Fire Officer in April 2016 and Director of Support resulting in a saving of £200k per annum. The focus for the forthcoming year would be collaboration, involving work on inter service. Members noted that Cambridgeshire was the first service to merge its community function with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service, with an operation base in Cambridgeshire and a saving of £400k per annum. The Council also noted a number of other collaborative services, including Service Transformation and Efficiency Programme with Bedfordshire, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Services and combined ICT, Geographical Information System and Incident Command Unit with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Strickland informed Members of the collaborative work with utilisation of Fire Stations by Cambridgeshire Police the East of England Ambulance Service. Members were also acquainted with extensive work provided by the Service working with public and private sector partners, with particular focus on a scheme working with disadvantaged youths over a 12 week period. The Council noted the biggest achievement of the Service in creating a new Fire Station in Cambridge, including flats above, through a profit share with a private sector partner.

Mr Strickland went on to outline priority projects in programme management. This included the relocation of Huntingdon Fire Station and Training Centre, new fire uniform for the crews to ensure fire fighters are equipped with optimum modern protective clothing and the on-call review. Cambridgeshire is largely operated as an on-call service, with predominantly part time staff and it was reported that it was becoming an issue to retain on-call staff. As a result a review was being undertaken of different ways to retain on-call staff and delivering the service through better coverage.

Members were acquainted with the background to the major project of the relocation of Huntingdon Fire Station and Service Headquarters and the expense of maintaining the current out of date buildings. Mr Strickland outlined the proposals for potential relocation to Alconbury or St John’s Park, Huntingdon as a combined centre for both and the associated costs of relocation and sale of existing assets. The latter location had been selected as the preferred site that would allow better access to main trunk roads in the area.

In response to a question from Councillor D A Giles on how to address the issue of an increased fire hazard with hoarding properties, Mr Strickland explained that the Service had been working with the Police and local authorities to identify such properties and work to alleviate these problems.

The Executive Leader, Councillor J D Ablewhite, praised the Service for the work that they had undertaken under some particularly difficult circumstances and referred to their innovative approach that the Council could learn from. In referring to their wider public estate, Councillor Ablewhite questioned whether any further collaborative work would be undertaken with the Police. Mr Strickland responded by explaining that opportunities had been investigated with Yaxley and Cambourne and the potential to move into the Waterbeach site had not come to fruition. Contact had been made with all partners to investigate the opportunity to bring the property portfolio together.

In response to a question by Councillor K M Baker on the demands on the Service of road traffic accidents, Mr Strickland explained that the Service only attended a small percentage and according to research from the National Audit Office, there had been a decline in the number of calls combined with a reduction in the number of vehicle movements.

Councillor J A Gray referred to the coverage of on-call stations, particularly in the rural areas and enquired as to whether Members could assist with communication to support the on-call stations. Whereby Mr Strickland reported that a seminar was being held by the Fire Authority the following day to discuss on-call provision and recognising the difficulties that many people do not live and work in the same location.

In response to a question from Councillor M F Shellens on a recent incident involving an attack on fire vehicle, Mr Strickland explained that these isolated incidents and the Service had been working with youths and schools to promote the service and educate them.

Councillor Mrs S J Conboy highlighted the challenges faced by an increased number of housing developments for the Service to cover and Mr Strickland explained that fire station will be provided at Northstowe but the Service had been working with developers to agree to place sprinklers in houses of vulnerable people in that area.