Issued on: Friday 1 September 2023

Your Service, Your Say – Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service Invites Public Input on the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2024-2028

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) is pleased to announce the launch of a 12-week public consultation period for its newly developed Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2024-2028, commencing on September 1, 2023.

The CRMP is a comprehensive plan outlining LFRS’s commitment to ensuring Safer People and Safer Places within our communities and workplaces. The plan focuses on identifying and mitigating foreseeable community-related risks. The CRMP will cover a 5-year period and will be developed through consultation, be accessible and cost-effective, and reviewed regularly.

The Service has gathered and analysed the last five years of historical demand data, risk data, station location information, response times and financial information. The five Service aims are now subject to public consultation, which will run until Friday 24 November 2023.

Callum Faint, Chief Fire and Rescue Officer, emphasises the significance of this plan: “Our purpose is Safer People, Safer Places, and this CRMP sets out how we will achieve this. It’s essential that we understand our residents and their needs to deliver a well-managed Service. Please have your say.”

The CRMP outlines our Service priorities and aims, with detailed departmental plans providing a roadmap for achieving our desired outcomes. It encompasses five strategies covering Safer Communities, Response, Finance and Resources, People, and Governance, outlining the importance of managing incidents effectively and efficiently.

Key Elements of the CRMP include:

Safer Communities
• Collaborate and work with partners to reduce the risk to our communities.
• Continue to implement an effective Fire Protection Risk Based Inspection Programme for commercial buildings.
• Continue to implement an effective programme of Home Safety Check visits to reduce domestic dwelling fires.
• Continue to target and help those vulnerable to fire and rescue-related incidents.
• Improve community engagement and equality of access.

Response
• Amend the crewing and fire engine allocation at the following stations to address the concerns of the Health and Safety Executive with the DCP duty system and meet the needs and demands of the communities.
• Castle Donington – Change from DCP duty system to Day Crewed. Appliance crewed at night by combining the tactical response crews from Loughborough and Western Stations.
• Loughborough – Introduction of an On-Call section and an additional appliance. Tactical Response Vehicle to relocate to Castle Donington at night.
• Western – Introduction of an additional Tactical Response Vehicle during the day, in addition to the existing appliance for additional prevention and protection work. Tactical Response Vehicle to relocate to Castle Donington at night.
• On completion of a trial, consider deploying Variable Response Vehicles to stations to either replace ‘end of life’ fire engines or Tactical Response Vehicles to improve appliance availability, flexible crewing arrangements or provide functionality to greater suit local incident demand requirements, which may include wildfires and flooding incidents.
• Provide additional water rescue capability to two further Wholetime stations, increasing the total to five across the Service (Birstall, Loughborough, Oakham, Southern and Wigston) to meet the increasing risk and likelihood of flooding and water-related incidents being experienced due to climate change.
• Internal and external education and process change to reduce the impact of contaminants on our staff and our communities.

Finance and Resources
• Successfully implement the five-year Fleet Replacement Plan. • Ensure our equipment is new or serviced regularly.
• Successfully implement the five-year Estate plan of station improvements and refurbishments.
• Implement the ICT plan, reviewing and updating systems and processes (including cyber prevention activities).
• Deliver improvements towards achieving the Government’s carbon reduction targets and our own commitment to sustainability.

People
• Deliver our Annual Equalities Plan and improve the diversity of our workforce.
• Enhance our approach to employee engagement.
• Enable a positive working environment for all our employees and hold people to account against the core values.
• Develop our people at all levels.
• Ensure appropriate health and wellbeing interventions are implemented and maintained to support our staff.
• Delivery of effective workforce planning and succession planning to ensure progression and opportunity throughout the Service.

Governance
• Implement the most recent HMICFRS Inspection Improvement Plan and the HMICFRS Values and Culture Report recommendations.
• Implement improvements and suggestions identified by our staff.
• Deliver compliance with the Fire Standards Board Fire Standards.
• Comply with our responsibilities from a data protection and GDPR perspective.
• Build improved trust and engagement with our communities, ensuring that communication methods are effective.
• Evaluate activities to inform future initiatives and improvements.
• Manage our organisational risks and ensure our business continuity plans are effective and tested regularly.

We encourage residents of Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland to participate in this consultation. This is your opportunity to have your say in shaping the safety and well-being of your community.

We have made it easy for you to get involved:

The consultation will be advertised widely, as an integral part of encouraging local communities to participate.

• Online Survey: Visit our website at leics-fire.gov.uk/CRMP to complete the online survey.
• Paper-Based Questionnaires: If you require a paper-based questionnaire or assistance in providing feedback, please contact Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service at 0116 210 5555 or email info@leics-fire.gov.uk.

What Happens Next

Following the consultation period, a comprehensive summary report will be presented to the Combined Fire Authority in February 2024. This report will guide decisions on which proposals to advance.

Stay Informed

For further information, details of the proposals, the survey link, and access to relevant documents, please visit leics-fire.gov.uk/CRMP.

 

ENDS

 

Notes to Editors:
Interviews can be arranged through prior arrangement with Corporate Communications on the details below.

About the Service

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service provides emergency response, prevention and protection services from 20 stations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Its headquarters is based in Birstall, Leicester.

During 2021/22, we attended a total of 8,259 emergency incidents, including 1,968 fires and 707 road traffic collisions. A total of 12,938 Home Safety Checks were completed and we fitted 3,546 smoke alarms. 233 schools were visited as part of the Service’s schools programme, delivering fire and road safety education to 6,724 pupils.

The Service’s prevention, education, enforcement and inspection programmes have resulted in significant reductions in the number of incidents attended.

Contact:

Corporate Communications

Direct: 0116 210 5756

Corporate.communications@leics-fire.gov.uk

Download a PDF version here.