Issue - meetings

Endorsement: Horsham Fire Station and Fire and Rescue Training Centre

Meeting: 15/09/2020 - Cabinet (Item 31)

31 Horsham Fire Station and Fire & Rescue Service Training Centre (CAB07_20/21) pdf icon PDF 197 KB

The Cabinet is asked to approve the proposal set out in the attached key decision report.

 

The named Cabinet Members will introduce the key decision report.

 

The Chairman of the specially established Scrutiny Task and Finish Group will be invited to summarise the Group’s deliberations on the proposal. Other members of the Group present may be invited to comment.

 

Each of the main Opposition Group Leaders will be invited to speak for up to three minutes each on the proposal.

 

The Cabinet will then discuss the proposal prior to taking any decision.

 

 

Additional documents:

Decision:

Following consideration of the report, Cabinet resolved to:

 

1.   Endorse the delivery of Horsham Fire Station and FRS Training Centre at Highwood in Horsham with the allocation of £20.85m and additional design fees of £461,000 from the capital programme to fund the completion of the project

2.   authorise the submission of applications for full planning permission for the project;

3.   subject to receipt of planning permission to enter into a construction contract with Willmott Dixon through the Southern Construction Framework and

4.   Confirm that the Fire and Rescue assets at Horley and Hurst Road Horsham and part of the site at Worthing, as detailed in the report, are declared surplus to all operational use.

 

The call-in deadline is 24 September 2020.

Minutes:

31.1     Cabinet considered a report by the Executive Director Place Services and Chief Fire Officer.

 

31.2     The report was introduced by Cllr Duncan Crow, Cabinet Member for Fire and Rescue and Communities who outlined the need for the proposal in the context of the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) and recent HMIC Inspection and the service and community benefits of the proposal.

 

31.3     Cllr Joy Dennis, Chairman of the Horsham Fire Station Task and Finish Group Committee welcomed the decision and felt that it should proceed at pace.

 

31.4     Cllr Steve Waight, Chairman of the Fire and Rescue Service Scrutiny Committee noted that the operational need for the station and training facility had been required for some time and referred to the financial implications of a do nothing option, and the increase in training requirements.

 

31.5     Cllr Dr James Walsh, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group welcomed the decision and asked about the impact on response times for the second appliance at Horsham and about access to the technical and rescue assets currently contained at Horley. The Chief Fire Officer responded to the questions.

 

31.6     Cllr Michael Jones, Leader of the Labour group asked whether this was the right priority at the current time and whether all  effects been successfully mitigated. He noted the annual interest payments required and questioned whether this money could be spent on on-call firefighter crews.

 

31.7     The Leader thanked the TFG for their deliberations on the proposal and the support for the service investment plans and noted it as a critical decision for the safety of West Sussex residents. He highlighted the commitment to improved resources and training facilities for firefighters, effectively equipping the service and providing resilience into the future.

 

32.8   Resolved – that Cabinet:

 

1.   Endorses the delivery of Horsham Fire Station and FRS Training Centre at Highwood in Horsham with the allocation of £20.85m and additional design fees of £461,000 from the capital programme to fund the completion of the project

2.   Authorises the submission of applications for full planning permission for the project;

3.   subject to receipt of planning permission to enter into a construction contract with Willmott Dixon through the Southern Construction Framework and

4.   Confirms that the Fire and Rescue assets at Horley and Hurst Road Horsham and part of the site at Worthing, as detailed in the report, are declared surplus to all operational use.


Meeting: 28/08/2020 - Horsham Fire Station Task and Finish Group (Item 4)

4 Horsham Fire Station & West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service Training Centre pdf icon PDF 57 KB

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance.

 

A Joint Task and Finish Group of members of the Performance and Finance and Fire and Rescue Service Scrutiny Committees has been convened in order to scrutinise the proposed decision for the delivery of a new Horsham Fire Station and Fire and Rescue Service Training Centre.

 

The Task and Finish Group is asked to comment on the draft Cabinet decision report (to follow), and provide comment to Cabinet prior to the formal decision being taken.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

4.1       The Task & Finish Group (TFG) considered a report by the Executive Director Place Services and the Chief Fire Officer which was introduced by Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, Chief Fire Officer, who told the TFG: -

 

·         Currently, fire fighters had insufficient access to practical training such as using breathing equipment. The new facility would address this and also ensure incident commanders had sufficient training

·         The new facility would also provide high-rise scenario training in line with national requirements

·         The facility would also provide hot fire training which currently had to be done through other organisations such as Gatwick Airport during the day and was not always available and not possible for retained fire fighters

·         The present site in Horsham was outdated and lacked the space and facilities needed for a modern fire and rescue service

·         The new site was close to the old one and was in a good location with easy access to the A24

·         It had been hoped to offer training to other fire authorities but the market for this was not assured

·         It was also hoped to get revenue from energy produced on site, but there was insufficient space

 

4.2       Summary of responses to members comments and questions: -

 

·         Response times would remain within the target for the local area and improve very marginally on a service-wide basis

·         Joint use of the site with other blue light services had been explored, but was not viable, however future collaboration was not ruled out

·         The site had capacity for more staff than presently employed, but it was not known how this would be affected by any possible future re-organisation of local government

·         The facility would make training more accessible to all staff, especially retained fire fighters

·         The fire station would be open 24/7 and it was hoped that the training centre would be open during every day and evening

·         It was not envisaged that any restrictions would be put on the site during the planning process

·         Similar sites were estimated to cost between £7.5m and £8.5m. The Horsham site was expected to be more, but the benchmarking analysis suggests there may be opportunities to lower costs as the project progresses therefore the contingency of £2.5m should be viewed as a cap at the top end of expectations

·         The building was expected to be viable for fifty years

·         The maintenance cost (£90k per year) was based on the same number of burn hours per year as a site in South Wales. If the site operated more burn hours the maintenance costs would increase

·         There was little space on site for other activities, but the buildings would be designed for flexible use

·         Existing training facilities around the county would be surplus to requirement and likely to be sold raising approximately £3.8m between 2022 and 2024

·         The TFG was broadly happy with the proposals but would like to see detail in the report from the business case on what would happen to surplus sites and a financial implications comparison with no site being built  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4