Agenda and minutes

Standing item.

The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting.

The Clerk undertook a roll call and reminded Members that the Authority was in the pre-election period (purdah).

Apologies were received from County Councillors Graham Baker and Sean Serridge.

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.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the CFA held on 19 February 2024 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

The Deputy Chief Fire Officer introduced Group Manager Kirsty McCreesh who had been invited to provide a presentation to Members on the incident at the former Supa Skips site in Lancaster.

GM McCreesh advised that the location of the Supa Skips site was close to Lancaster City Centre, situated on an industrial site with residential properties nearby which had presented challenges during the incident. The building had formerly been a power station with additional buildings subsequently erected on the land surrounding the main building.

The Environmental Agency (EA) had brought the building to the attention of Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) in February 2022 and shared information about the amount of waste being stored. A licence had been granted to store 500 tonnes of waste on the site, however, it was estimated that there were thousands of tonnes. Waste continued to be stored at the site even after EA prohibition and eventually, the site went into Liquidation. The Service was concerned over the impact a fire would have on the community and critical infrastructure, which was raised with partner agencies so that a multi-agency plan could be formulated.

Partner agencies involved in pre-planning for a potential incident were Lancashire Constabulary, EA, United Utilities (UU), Lancaster City Council, and Lancashire County Council. LFRS led on the formulation of a tactical plan with input from all agencies and hosted a table-top exercise in October 2022. The table-top exercise facilitated discussion and planning around: The proposed hose route cutting off access to the city; Large volumes of run-off water that could enter combined drains which could overwhelm the pumping station and / or flood the water treatment works; The run-off water that entered the surface water drain could pollute the River Lune; the potential smoke plume could carry asbestos over the city and deposit on the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and the Lancaster Railway Station; Local residents, businesses, care home and schools could be impacted for several days.

Planning documents were shared on Resilience Direct so there was immediate access to partners and an Impact Statement was completed by LFRS. The Impact Statement included environmental impacts, impacts to the community, impacts on businesses, difficulties to fight a fire, and the cost to LFRS.

LFRS Actions included: -

-        Agreed multi-agency plans for the occurrence of an incident.

-        Increased pre-determined attendance.

-        Sharing plans internally.

-        Further planning which took place with UU and the EA in how best to deal with fire water run-off.

-        LFRS being part of regular multi-agency meetings to monitor the risk.

-        A letter of concern which had been sent to the Environment Agency and the Chief Executive of Lancaster City Council.

In September and October 2023, a number of fires occurred at the abandoned A1 Supa Skips site and a Major Incident was declared due to the risk. A Tactical Coordinating Group and Strategic Coordinating Group was assembled with multi agency representation.

On Sunday 3 December 2023, a fire started at the site and the first  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75/23

The Chief Fire Officer presented the report. The Fire and Rescue National Framework for England (2018) set out the Government’s high-level expectations, priorities and objectives for Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) in England. Included within the framework was the requirement that all FRAs must provide assurance on financial, governance and operational matters.

The Statement of Assurance was considered by Members. It aimed to provide the required accountability and transparency to Lancashire communities and the Government that Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) continued to deliver efficient, effective value for money services.

This statement sat alongside the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP), Statement of Accounts, the Annual Governance Statement, the Annual Service Plan and Annual Progress Report. It detailed what measures were in place to assure that the Combined Fire Authority’s performance was efficient, economic, and effective and provided further evidence that LFRS continued to deliver under the expectations detailed within both the National Framework and its own Risk Management Plan.

Resolved: - That the Authority approved the Annual Statement of Assurance 2022?23 as presented and approved the signing of this by the Chairman of the Authority and the Chief Fire Officer.

The concept of Member Champions was introduced in December 2007. A review of the areas of focus for Member Champions was considered at the Authority meeting held in June 2017 where new areas of responsibility were agreed. The current Member Champions and their areas of responsibility were:

·       Community Safety – Councillor Jean Rigby;

·       Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – Councillor Zamir Khan;

·       Health and Wellbeing – County Councillor John Singleton;

·       Road Safety – County Councillor Ron Woollam.

Reports relating to the activity of the Member Champions were provided on a regular basis to the Authority. This report related to activity for the period up to 21 April 2024. During this period all had undertaken their respective role in accordance with the defined terms of reference.

County Councillor Singleton provided those present at the meeting with a copy of the Environment and Sustainability Promotional Calendar 2024/25, and he advised that a further calendar would be created for wellbeing following a meeting later in the week. 

County Councillor Woollam thanked the team at LFRS for their success with the Road Safety Education Package, the Biker Down Course, and the Wasted Lives Education Package. He highlighted pertinent points in the report.

Councillors thanked staff within the Service for their work to help them within their respective roles.

County Councillor O’Toole echoed those thanks on behalf of members, adding that it was not always appreciated just how much work went on behind the scenes that Member Champions were involved in.

Resolved: - That the Authority noted the report and acknowledged the work of the respective Champions.

The report summarised Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) prosecutions pertaining to fire safety offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005. There were currently three cases in the court system for offences with one set for trial in April 2024, one was set for trial starting in July 2024, and the third was set for trial starting in June 2025.

One case had now concluded and the landlord had pleaded guilty to six breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. On 19 March 2024, sentencing took place where the landlord was sentenced to three months imprisonment for failure to comply with six articles of the Fire Safety Order and ordered to pay £10,414.51 in costs to Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.

Protection teams continued to investigate and build files in relation to eleven further cases where offences were believed to have been committed, which involved a number of types of premises as outlined in the report. It was highlighted that LFRS Protection Department was also supporting a joint enforcement case with a local authority, Health & Safety Executive and Lancashire Constabulary regarding a complex mill converted to residential accommodation.

Given the rapidly evolving regulatory change in building fire safety, an update on Fire Protection and Business Support was also provided, detailing how the Service was adapting delivery whilst developing its workforce, to ensure that it kept pace with the changes and improved public and firefighter safety within the built environment.

Members noted during the 23/24 performance year to end February 2024, there had been 3,112 business fire safety checks delivered. Around 428 had led to unsatisfactory outcomes and were triaged by Fire Protection teams during the period with both informal and formal enforcement taken. 

LFRS continued to embed legislative changes which came into force from 1 October 2023 amendments of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which had been introduced under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022. These amendments required that all responsible persons must record the fire risk assessment in full (including the findings) along with the fire safety arrangements for premises in all circumstances.

The new Building Safety Act and Building Safety Regulator (BSR) continued to be developed. Following a competitive interview process, a new Northwest Regional Building Safety Manager had been appointed who would be hosted by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS,) and would work directly with the LFRS newly appointed BSR lead.

LFRS built environment officers continued to pursue the principle accountable persons for tall buildings that had failed to meet their new legislative requirements by 28 February 2024.

To date, only 25% of Lancashire’s 48 residential tall buildings had submitted all of the mandatory building information they were now legally required to provide both to the BSR and the local Fire and Rescue Service. Of the 75% that remained, a vast majority had submitted parts of the information but had failed to provide it all despite several requests. Following several engagements with responsible persons, LFRS would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78/23

The Authority received a report that provided information relating to operational incidents of note since the last meeting. As the operational period had been very busy, the report detailed only the larger deployments or more complex incidents. As a result, some incidents that Members had been made aware of locally, may not have formed part of the report. Full details of the following incidents were provided in the report:

·       Firefighters attended a Road Traffic Collision (RTC) in Tarleton, in which 2 people lost their lives.

·       6 fire engines attended a commercial building fire in Lytham St Annes.

·       Fire crews attended a suspected chemical leak with multiple casualties in Clitheroe.

·       8 fire engines attended a commercial building fire in Blackburn.

·       8 fire engines attended a large fire in Clayton Le Dale, Ribble Valley.

·       8 fire engines attended a commercial building fire in Blackpool.

·       8 fire engines attended a derelict building fire in Chorley.

·       6 fire engines attended a church on fire in Padiham.

Resolved: That the Authority noted the report.

The next meeting of the Authority will be held on Monday 24 June 2024 at 10:00 hours at Washington Hall Training Centre, Euxton.

The next meeting of the Authority would be held on Monday 24 June 2024 at 10:30am at the Training Centre, Euxton.

The Authority is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, they consider that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

Resolved: That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

(Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3)

Members considered a report prepared by the Clerk and Monitoring Officer to the Authority concerning the appointment of Independent Person(s) in line with the Localism Act 2011.

Resolved: - That the Authority noted and endorsed the extension of the appointment of one Independent Person for four years, following County Councillor Howarth’s suggestion of a vote, which was taken by hands, which was a unanimous endorsement of the proposal.