Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillors L Hutchinson and E Worthington.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None received.

The minutes of the previous meeting were moved by County Councillor J Ash and seconded by Councillor G Baker.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 17 November 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Assistant Director of Communications and Engagement (ADoCaE) presented the Consultation Strategy report. The Authority had a consultation strategy which provided a framework through which it could seek public opinion on matters such as its services, council tax precept, and proposals for changes that impact on communities.

The strategy had been reviewed to ensure that it continued to meet statutory requirements; incorporated good practice; and provided the public and stakeholders with timely opportunity to influence development of their fire and rescue service.

The review concluded that the strategy continued to be legally compliant and in line with good practice. 

The following amendments had been made:

• Section 4 had been added to explicitly state the legal principles which governed consultation.
• In section 5, a paragraph had been added to provide further clarity about the approach to determining whether consultation would take place.
• In section 7, service users / those most at risk of fires and other emergencies had been added as a distinct stakeholder in the list of potential stakeholders.  
• In section 8, reference had been made to the information provided in consultations being available, accessible, and interpretable for consultees.

The planning committee had previously reviewed the strategy every year to assure continued compliance with guidance or legislation and to incorporate learning from any public consultation exercises undertaken. It was proposed that next year, the strategy would be aligned with the new community risk management plan which would cover the period 2027-2032 and would only be brought back for review within that five-year period if a material change was required.

The report was moved by Councillor J Hugo and seconded by Councillor G Baker.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted and endorsed the consultation strategy and approved the proposal to create a five-year strategy next year, aligned with the next community risk management plan.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO) advised that the report updated on progress of the ongoing workstreams that were being progressed under the Blue Light Collaboration Board (BLCB). He explained that it was proposed that this be the final update brought to Planning Committee as the same content was being reported to Performance Committee. The workstreams were being managed effectively through both the Strategic and Tactical Boards and were contributing towards improving outcomes, providing better value for money, reducing demand, and reducing inequalities within communities.

Leadership Development

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), Lancashire Police (LanCon), and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) continued to seek efficiencies and foster professional relationships across Blue Light Services.

Following the success and positive feedback from the three leadership events held in 2025, one hosted by each blue light service, planning was underway for another series of events in 2026. It was proposed that they would follow a similar format, with each blue light service hosting one of the events.

The group was also continuing to progress a cross-service coaching and mentoring network where people with similar roles at a comparable level were identified to link with each other in the role of either a coach or a mentor. The events that ran in 2025 provided an opportunity for the attendees to be briefed on the benefits of this and indicate whether they would be willing to enter into a coaching or mentoring arrangement. This received a positive response. 

Health and Wellbeing 

A new collaborative group was formed earlier this year, bringing together Health and Wellbeing leads from all three Services. The group’s goal was to understand and align the health and wellbeing offerings across Blue Light organisations and explore joint opportunities to support staff. It was led by LFRS. It was recognised that there were a number of similarities in the challenges faced by personnel across the three services, such as dealing with distressing incidents and shift work. By collaborating and sharing mechanisms to support staff, interventions could be optimised.

The group’s initial step was to share policies and procedures for best practice and learning. Work planned for the group included continuing to develop the idea of a Tri-service wellbeing event for any member of blue light staff and continuing to explore the possibility of a joint blue light fitness and nutrition support offer. LFRS and LanCon were developing an online module for mental health awareness, to be available to all staff and shared more widely once completed.

Estates, Co-location & Fleet

The estates and co-location initiative between LFRS, NWAS, and LanCon aimed to identify opportunities for shared sites, enhancing collaboration and value for money. Successful co-location at Lancaster, St Annes, Darwen, Preston, and other Fire Stations had improved operational efficiency and fostered stronger inter-service relationships, ultimately benefiting Lancashire communities.

The updated Blue Light Collaboration Project Initiation Document continued to provide direction for the Estates and Co-location sub-group, which was exploring further collaboration. Quarterly meetings between Heads of Estates from LFRS, NWAS, and LanCon had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24-25/26

Area Manager (AM) T Powell presented the report to Members regarding His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) activity.

HMICFRS 2025-27 Inspection: 

The 2025-27 HMICFRS inspection process was well underway; there was a greater focus on governance arrangements and their effects on services. HMICFRS would not evaluate the governing authority itself; instead, they would assess how CFA governance directly influences Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS). The people assessment would consider whether governance and oversight frameworks promoted a positive organisational culture, as well as whether established code of conduct standards effectively supported workforce health and well-being. Leadership at all levels, values and culture, and a more detailed review of major incident preparedness would also be examined by HMICFRS. HMICFRS planned to share key insights from the fire and rescue services (FRS) inspected so far during their next External Reference Group (ERG) meeting, scheduled for 24 February 2026. The inspection timetable for Phase 1 and Phase 2 had now been published: Phase 1 would include inspections of 14 FRSs, and Phase 2 would cover another 15, making 29 in total. LFRS would be included in Phase 3, with dates yet to be confirmed.

Changes at the Inspectorate:

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) Sir Andy Cooke would leave office in March 2026, HMICFRS had assured the sector that the inspection programme would continue without disruption during the process to appoint his successor.  

Digital and Cyber Thematic Inspection:

His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) Michelle Skeer wrote to all Chief Constables and Chief Fire Officers to announce that the HMICFRS would be conducting a joint thematic inspection examining police forces’ and FRSs’ response to increasing areas of cybersecurity risk. Three FRSs had already been chosen for this process. Although Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) volunteered to participate in the inspection to help refine its procedures and identify both strengths and areas needing improvement, HMICFRS clarified that the selection of the three FRSs was already complete. Nevertheless, they expressed interest in holding engagement sessions with LFRS and reviewing documentation related to its cyber security practices. As this was a thematic inspection, the evidence would be used to inform the HMICFRS’s understanding of the management of cybersecurity in FRS’s generally. The HMICFRS would not be publishing reports on individual services or making graded judgments but would highlight positive practice when identified.

National HMICFRS Report Themes:

The Organisational Assurance Team would continue to monitor national patterns and insights from all HMICFRS reports, adding essential findings to the theme tracker. The tracker would provide the Executive Board, Service Management Team (SMT), and Department Heads with a “real-time” overview of sector-wide key themes that were emerging from the HMICFRS inspections. The Organisational Assurance Team were anticipating the first reports to be published around April 2026 having been delayed from February. 

Characteristics of good:

The HMICFRS had updated the characteristics of good performance. These characteristics described the levels of performance a Fire and Rescue Service needed to achieve to be graded ‘good’. They helped the HMICFRS  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25-25/26

The Assistant Director of Communication and Engagement (ADoCaE) presented the report to Members regarding the services Council tax precept consultation.

A consultation plan was being implemented to consult the public on Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s (LFRS’s) council tax precept for the year ahead. The consultation aimed to understand levels of support for a proposed increase in 2026-27 which equated to £5 per year (on a Band D property).

An online consultation was launched on 11 December 2025 at www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/budget.

Stakeholders from organisations including local authorities, town and parish councils, and community groups had been invited to take part in the consultation, along with approximately 100,000 subscribers to the Service’s In The Know email newsletter. It was also being publicised in news outlets, on social media platforms and through internal communication channels within the organisation.

In a mid-point review on 15 January 2026, there had been 934 responses, on 2 February 2026 there had been 962 responses. Of the 962 responses to date, 76% supported the proposal and 18% did not support the proposal.

The consultation closed at 5pm on Wednesday 4 February 2026. A full report would be provided to the Authority as an appendix to the budget report at its budget meeting on Monday 23 February 2026.

Approval to undertake the annual budget consultation was delegated to the Chair of the CFA in consultation with the Treasurer and the Chief Fire Officer, due to the limited amount of time between the announcement of the local government financial settlement and the Authority’s budget meeting.

County Councillor U Arif commented that 962 seemed a low number of responses, the ADoCaE explained that this was a higher response rate than last year, with feedback received that a £5 increase was lower than increases for other services which resulted in fewer respondents. Additionally, service users were more likely to respond to the consultation and the service had a smaller number of service users than other services.

In response to a question from Councillor F Jackson in relation to the reasons for respondents not supporting the increase, the ADoCaE explained that this information was not available at present but would be included in the budget report at the authority’s budget meeting on Monday 23 February 2026.

Resolved: That the Planning Committee noted the report.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer (DCFO) presented a report on the Service's Annual Service Plan (ASP) 2026/27.

The ASP continued to provide Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) with the platform to highlight the priority activities and projects the Service intended to deliver over the coming year; leading improvements and innovation in the sector with some of the best firefighting equipment in the country and a highly skilled and motivated workforce.

The ASP was built around the Service’s 5 corporate priorities as detailed in the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP). As in previous years, detailed under each corporate priority was a series of priority activities and projects with a brief description of each item to give further clarity and context, these were: -

1. Valuing our people so they can focus on making Lancashire safer;

• Service headquarters and leadership and development centre masterplan
• Upgrade fire station facilities
• Invest in firefighter safety
• Create more efficient people processes
• Improve how the service assesses the impact of its decisions

2. Preventing fire and other emergencies from happening;

• Review how prevention services were delivered

3. Protecting people and property when fires happen;

• Adapt services to support new safety measures and increase efficiency

4. Responding to fire and other emergencies quickly and competently;

• Focus on availability, preparedness, and operational competence
• Strengthen on-call fire engine availability
• Review specialist appliances
• Invest in fleet and equipment

Members noted a proposed amendment under the review specialist appliance section on page 46 of the agenda pack, to broaden the review from aerial appliances and water rescue resources to all specialist assets.

• Lead drone modernisation in fire and rescue

The DCFO explained that the services Drone Manager was also the Drone Lead for the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC). As the national fire and rescue service lead for drones, the Service had received a grant and was a partner in a project to ensure emergency services were included in future changes to UK airspace. Modernisation included using drones to take aerial imagery from the incident ground prior to arrival of fire engines, the ‘drone in a box’ concept which negated the need for a human operator, and heavy lifting drones. The services participation would keep it at the forefront of innovation, development, and operations.

5. Delivering value for money in how we use our resources;

• Increase operational competence to strengthen resilience
• Drive efficiencies through digital innovation
• Maximise productivity and efficiency

In response to a question from Councillor J Hugo in relation to collaboration with other services in relation to specialist assets, the DCFO explained that national arrangements were in place under the NFCC but each service must assess its risk and have sufficient provisions to meet this risk. He explained that services supported each other, with Lancashire a lead for things like fire dogs, providing support to other services with recharge arrangements in place. Additionally, services reviewed training arrangements and collaborated to ensure all training resources were available to all services, citing an example of high rise training with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27-25/26

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on Monday 13 July 2026 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:    scheduled for 16 November 2026

                                           proposed for 8 March 2027

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Monday 13 July 2026 at 10:00 hours in the main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 16 November 2026 and 8 March 2027.