Agenda item

(To receive a presentation from Nick Borrill, Chief Fire Officer; Daryl Pearce, County Officer – Public Protection; and Nicole Hilton, Chief Community Engagement Officer on Protecting the Public and Community Resilience and Assets (Public Protection and Communities))

The Committee received a presentation from lead officers which provided an overview of the various challenges and opportunities in the areas that this Committee scrutinised.

The presentation was introduced by Pete Moore, Executive Director Finance and Public Protection, and included contributions from Nicole Hilton for Community Engagement, Daryl Pearce for County Public protection and Nick Borrill and Ian Reed for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Emergency Planning.

Members received detailed information in relation to the following:

·         Community Resilience and Assets

·         Community Engagement – What we do

·         Community Engagement – Aims

·         Aims and Objectives – Policy Development & Delivery

·         Aims and Objectives Projects

·         Aims and Objectives

·         Library Service – Changes

·         Community Engagement Budget

·         Community Engagement Challenges

·         Opportunities

·         2016/17 Achievements

·         Community Engagement – Priorities

·         Heritage Services – Who We Are

·         What We Do

·         Aims and Objectives

·         Heritage Services – Changes

·         Budget

·         Challenges

·         Opportunities2016/17 Achievements

·         Future Priorities

·         County Public Protection

·         Safer Communities

·         Safer Communities – Priorities and Challenges

·         Lincolnshire Youth Offending

·         Lincolnshire Youth Offending – Challenges and Priorities

·         Registration Celebratory & Coroners

·         Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue – The Management Team

·         FRA Responsibilities

·         Key Legislation

·         Our Approach

·         The Service…

·         Prevention

·         Home Safety and Health and Wellbeing

·         Road safety

·         Arson reduction and Youth Engagement

·         Protection

·         Response

·         Level 1 (Operator) and 2 (Technical) Response

·         Level 3 – Specialist Response

·         Level 4 – National Response

·         Level 5 – International Response

·         The Finances….

·         ….and the changes

·         The In-Tray

·         Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Service

·         Challenges

·         Achievements

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the presentation and some of the points raised included the following:

·         In relation to support to non-parished areas, members were advised that officers had mapped many community groups across the entire county and when there was a specific issue, could go direct to that group.  If there an issue arose in an area where officers did not have a contact they would carry out investigations to establish a contact.

·         It was queried how a decision was made on what consultation to carry out, and members were advised that there was clear legislation on when there was a need to consult and that there were a whole range of different ways in which communities could be targeted to ensure that the maximum feedback was received.

·         A councillor commented that a task and finish group had been carried out in 2012 which had examined the County Council's relationship with the town and parish councils, and it was suggested that it may be interesting to revisit the recommendations from the report.  Officers advised that they would speak to the councillor outside of the meeting in relation to this report.

·         It was commented that aviation heritage was important to Lincolnshire and it was queried what other projects were in progress.  Members were advised that officers were working closely with Bomber Command to provide expertise and support whenever needed.  It was hoped that work would take place with Lincoln BIG on a combined aviation offer.  It was also hoped to work with the RAF stations to create an aviation trail, as there was a need to build the customer base as much as possible.

·         In relation to Trading Standards work to help those people who had been victims of scams it was commented that often those people who fallen for scams did not want anyone to know, and it was queried what councillors could do to help Trading Standards get their message across to those people who were too trusting.  Members were advised that the advice from Trading Standards was to not open the door, or buy on the door step.  The aim was to empower people to make the decisions when people knocked on their door.  Work was also ongoing to train people who were around the vulnerable people to identify the signs and symptoms that they may be victims of scams.  One initiative which had been introduced was 'No cold calling' zones, where a whole street was encouraged to say no to cold calling, and worked on the same principles as neighbourhood watch schemes.

·         It was queried whether crime had increased since the street lights had been switched off and the Committee was advised that a piece of work would be carried out in conjunction with highways teams.  It was noted that those areas which had been identified as having a high crime rate had not had their street lights turned off.  Members were also advised that Lincolnshire was one of the last counties to move to part night lighting, and in those counties where this had been done, they had not seen an increase in the crime rate. 

·         It was commented that there was a perception that crime was rising, and officers would be working to tackle this perception when the data had been analysed. 

·         It was noted that there were different crime patterns in urban and rural areas.

·         It was commented that if the opportunity arose, members should visit the Road Safety Partnership and watch the Too Fast Too Soon production.  Members were advised that it was hoped to incorporate this into the Committee's work programme.

·         It was also commented that members should take the opportunity to attend a citizenship ceremony if they could as it could be a very moving experience.  If a councillor wished to attend one, they should contact Donna Sharp (County Services Manager (Registration, Celebratory and Coroners Services)) who could arrange this.

·         Reference was made to a recent fatal collision in the Grantham area and it was queried what could be done to help prevent serious collisions on the county's roads.  Members were advised that where there were a number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit and fatal collisions, these areas would always be targeted with measures for reducing speed and injury.  There would be a need for more serious enforcement options when fatal collisions took place.  Officers advised that they would contact Councillor L Wootten outside of the meeting to discuss further actions in relation to the highlighted incident.

·         In relation to the Police and Crime Commissioner's (PCC) ability to take over the running of the fire service, it was clarified that the local PCC would need to produce a business case as well as having to consult in the local area and then present the case to the Secretary of State.

·         It was queried how members could help during the recruitment of retained duty fire fighters.

·         It was commented that it was disappointing that Fire and Rescue had lost its funding for the Prince's Trust, but councillors wished to congratulate The Chief Fire Officer and his team for their work with young people which had been very positive.  Members were informed that in relation to the youth engagement work, most cadets came as referrals from schools.

·         It was queried what the financial status of the Waddington Training site was and members were advised that 6 months ago it had been agreed to cease operating as a trading company, but training for wider services still took place on a cost recovery basis.

·         In terms of strengthening community resilience, parish councils had been encouraged to put emergency plans in place, but there were concerns that there had not been any follow up.  Members were advised that the new five point plan would allow communities to go at their own pace, and officer would be looking at what communities needed to do as well as ensuring that the plans were still appropriate.

·         It was noted that South Holland District Council had opted out of the SLA and it was queried if it would be possible for the area to still be involved.  Members were advised that if that district reconsidered and wished to join the SLA then it would be welcome.  It was also noted that a new emergency planning officer had been appointed by SHDC and they had been invited to spend a day at the Emergency Planning offices.