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Agenda item

Agenda item

Minutes:

The Chief Fire Officer introduced the report.  He advised that the need for regulatory change had been discussed for a number of years now as it had been 3 years since the Grenfell tragedy.  Some significant changes had been made towards the legislation and much more was expected.  So far, the focus had been on high-rise buildings.   However, there was a move now to buildings below what would traditionally be seen as high-rise and the regulations for that would have a knock on effect on the entire built environment.  The scale therefore would probably be the most significant change seen by the sector since it carried out fire certifications 20 years ago.  When the Regulatory Fire Safety Order 2005 was put in place it changed the role of the Fire Service to be more like the Health and Safety Executive ie: using fewer resources to provide some support to businesses, investigating fires in commercial premises and prosecuting as required.  These responsibilities would remain but the changes to the role of the Service were more likely to include giving consent to changes to the use of buildings.  A transformation was required by the sector in the way it was structured and responded to the changes that had been made to the built environment during the last 20 years ie: where there had been a number of changes to the way inspections by local building control had been undertaken and the role of approved inspectors. 

 

Dame Judith Hackitt had described the current system as broken and in need of fundamental reform.  This was the early stages of that transformation which came with a commitment to provide surge funding which was expected would be built into baseline funding as part of the comprehensive funding review; the detail of which had yet to be seen due to the pandemic.

 

This was the start of a journey of significant change in the sector, one which should put the Service in a much stronger position to assure the building stock in Lancashire was fit for purpose in terms of protecting the people who resided and operated in them.

 

The Assistant Chief Fire Officer advised that the first part of the paper largely introduced the legislation and the drivers for change.  Page 30 set out the Fire Safety Bill, which was a response to the Grenfell Tower Fire and which would amend the Fire Safety Order to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for: the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows; and the entrance doors to individual flats that opened into common parts.

 

The paper then detailed the scope of the amended legislation and referred on pages 32-33 to the Building Safety Bill which was due to come into force in a couple of years’ time.   If the Fire Safety Bill was the regulatory device used to correct deficient existing building stock, then the Building Safety Bill would be the regulatory device used to ensure future construction of higher risk residential buildings (HRRB) to avoid the pitfalls of the past. 

 

The new legislation would require:

 

-        LFRS to act as part of the new Building Regulator (formerly called Joint Competent Authority) with HSE (lead) and Local Authority Building control;

-        LFRS to consult at all [gateway] stages whereas previously consultation was only undertaken at Building Regulation application stage;

-        HRRB inspectors would, as a minimum need to be Fire Safety Inspectors with a L4 Diploma, current CPD log and registration to IFR (or similar);

-        LFRS to maintain access to Fire Engineers.

 

The paper then discussed the competency framework which was agreed by the national Fire Chiefs Council on 5 February 2020.  Members noted that LFRS were co-authors of the revised Framework, which would ensure suitably trained Fire Safety Inspector Officers with levels, 3, 4 and 5 diplomas operated within that bespoke area of work. 

 

Pages 34-35 detailed how the Service was engaging with seconded, dedicated staff members into working part-time as part of their role for the various key governance areas and teams that were driving best practice.

 

The latter part of the report identified the transformation change required, including short-term and medium-term objectives.  The proposal included changes to the structure; moving the prevention and protection department under the directorate of service delivery and training and organisational review moving to sit alongside emergency planning, policy and strategy.    The paper also showed how the initial government surge funding of £300k would be utilised to add some strategic leadership and additional practitioners to focus initially on the transformational change and meet future needs.

 

County Councillor De Molfetta was pleased that the report stated on page 31 that Robert Jenrick MP had announced steps to introduce mandatory sprinkler systems and consistent wayfinding signage in all new high-rise blocks of flats over 11 meters tall which would come into effect for all buildings constructed after 26 November 2020.

 

County Councillor Shedwick observed from the Chief Fire Officer’s introduction that as the role for the Service would be enhanced to include involvement in local authority licencing and planning applications for bigger buildings there were also historic licensing conditions that may not have been complied with which maybe more problematic.  He felt the identification of these could be a role for Members of the Fire Authority if they were aware of historic conditions that were not being complied with.  The Chief Fire Officer confirmed he would welcome that information from Members.  He advised that there was currently a Built Environment Assessment Team undertaking a one-off piece of work over the next few months to analyse: the building stock, its current condition and whether the changes to legislation might have any material effect.  The Team were also looking at what remedies may need to be put in place to work with the building owners and how the Service could  plan to respond to a building that potentially did not perform as expected in relation to the current building regulations. 

 

RESOLVED: - That the Planning Committee noted the national drivers for change, the allocation of pump prime funding and endorsed the proposed internal restructuring necessary to underpin the transformation plan.

Supporting documents: