• Ratings for efficiency and effectiveness move to good from requires improvement
• More work to do on ‘People’ area, which requires improvement

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service has been commended for the improvements that it has made in keeping the county safe, in its second inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services.

A full inspection of the service was carried out earlier this year. In a report published today (Wednesday 27 July), the Inspectors say that they are “pleased to see the service has made significant progress since the 2018 inspection in how effectively and efficiently it keeps people safe and secure from fires and other risks.”

The inspection looks in detail at work across three categories – effectiveness, efficiency, and people. The inspection found that there had been major improvements in the Service’s effectiveness at responding to and preventing fires and protecting the public through regulation.

These areas of work were individually graded as ‘Good’, and the Service received a ‘Good’ grading across the board for its operational effectiveness.

Efficiency, making the best use of resources and having a robust plan to manage its finances well into the future, also received a ‘Good’ rating overall from the Inspectors.

These areas had been graded as requires improvement in the previous inspection in late 2018.

Chief Fire Officer Darren Dovey and Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold praised the work of firefighters and staff, which they said has clearly resulted in an improved service to the people of Northamptonshire.

They also acknowledged that there is more work to do in the ‘People’ area, however, where the HMICFRS graded Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service as ‘requires improvement’.

The ‘People’ area looks at work such as promoting the right values, ensuring fairness, and encouraging diversity. HMICFRS found that improvement is needed in each of these areas. They noted, however, that the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service leadership team is showing “strong strategic intent” to push forward in this area of work.

HMICFRS praised the Service’s improvement and overall direction, saying that they “commend the service on the changes it has made and expect it to continue to resolve the further areas for improvement we have identified.”

Darren Dovey, Chief Fire Officer of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “I am pleased that the fantastic efforts of our firefighters and staff have had an impact and resulted in such a significant improvement. It’s testament to how hard we have worked that this Service is now judged as good across the board in the services that keep the public safe.

“The last three years have not been easy but now we can see that our hard work is showing results. I want to thank the firefighters and staff of this service, who have taken us from strength to strength, working to make improvements against a challenging financial background and at the same time as dealing with and supporting other services through the pandemic.

“Moving to the governance of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has been central to our improvement, giving us stability and independence and the support of his office, including fighting for increased funding, has allowed us to reach a stable financial position and to make the investments we need to modernise.

“Our performance has come a long way, but now I will be challenging everyone to put the same energy into improving the culture of our organisation to make Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service the most supportive place to work, where everyone can be themselves and give their best.”

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold said: “I am very pleased that the independent assessment from HMICFRS confirms what I believed was the case – that Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service is providing a much-improved service in the way they keep the county safe.

“During the extraordinary heatwave last week, we saw our firefighters and staff working hard in very challenging situations and I know that people join me in thanking them. They should be proud of how much they have improved, and I always believed that moving under my governance, with increased opportunities for joint working, would enable Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service to deliver the best possible service to the people of this county.

“But I am disappointed by what HMICFRS had to say about values and inclusion and there is clearly much work that needs to be done in that area. I know the Chief Fire Officer and his team will be as disappointed as I am in the report’s findings, and I know they will be working just as hard to create a better culture as they have done to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

“I expect to see plans in place to improve the culture as soon as possible. I will also be looking for opportunities for further collaboration with Northamptonshire Police as both organisations work to build trust and confidence across the board.”

The full report can be viewed or downloaded from the HMICFRS website

26 July 2022

Blackthorn and Bellinge in Northampton will see safety and security improvements thanks to £99,000 from the Government’s Safer Streets fund.

The two areas have disproportionately high crime levels and part of this is due to the prevalence of alleyways, underpasses and deprivation.

West Northamptonshire Council applied for the funding to improve lighting in the area, introduce more CCTV and to create activities to engage young people and divert them from criminal activity.

Cllr David Smith, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Engagement, and Regulatory Services, said: “This funding is vital, and we will be teaming up with the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner which has also won funding to improve safety on our streets.

“The money we’ve been awarded will go toward tackling specific issues in Bellinge and Blackthorn, on the eastern side of Northampton, where there are high levels of antisocial behaviour and violent crime.

“In particular, we want to do what we can to begin diverting young people from this kind of activity into something more positive, and we’ll be using team sports as the catalyst.”

There is also a plan to gate alleyways to prevent them from being used as areas for antisocial behaviour, drug dealing and violent crime.

21 July 2022

West Northamptonshire Council is taking the lead on fresh plans to halt the decline of local habitats, joining up with local partners to produce a Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS).

At their recent meeting, members of the Council’s Cabinet agreed to progress proposals for the new strategy which will set out plans to restore local natural habitats. It will be evidence-based, locally led and collaborative. The idea is to bring together a plan that public, private, and voluntary sectors can all help to inform and deliver. This will provide a locally owned foundation to developing and underpinning a national Nature Recovery Network.

The longer term restoration of earmarked natural habitats across West Northants will enable species to thrive; as trees are planted and peatlands restored. This will ultimately mitigate flood and fire risks, and create green spaces for local people to enjoy.

The Council has received £16,000 towards the preparation of its strategy, with more on its way to cover what is estimated to be two years’ work leading up to publication.

“The UK has suffered long-term decline in nature and various steps have been taken locally and nationally to address this, but undoubtedly more is needed. We have reached a critical juncture and no longer is it sufficient to protect the remnants that we have left - but must now step up to the huge task of securing recovery.

“If we wish to have rich and abundant wildlife, more carbon captured in trees, soil and hedges, better protection from extreme weather and enough places for people to gain the wellbeing benefits of good quality green spaces, then we must invest in nature’s recovery, and at scale.

“West Northamptonshire Council being appointed as responsible authority for preparing our own local nature recovery strategy (LNRS) is a great opportunity for us. The work will help bring a broad range of groups together; from farmers to businesses to local communities, – to deliver priorities for nature recovery at a local level. We look forward to working with our partners to create bigger, better, and more connected natural places to halt and then reverse the decline in our environment.”

Phil Larratt, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste

The strategy is part of a national vision which informed the Environment Act 2021. On a local level WNC will continue to participate in all-Northamptonshire nature arrangements, especially the Local Nature Partnership, giving stakeholders efficient means of engagement.

Notes to editors:

• In 2018 the UK Government adopted a 25-year Environment Plan which seeks “to leave that environment in a better state than we found it and pass on to the next generation a natural environment protected and enhanced for the future.” This included proposals to develop a Nature Recovery Network.
• The LNRSs will underpin the new Nature Recovery Network (NRN) – a flagship element of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.
• The long-term vision is to benefit people and wildlife by increasing, improving and joining-up wildlife-rich places across England. It will create or restore hectares of wildlife habitat outside protected sites, more effectively linking existing protected sites and landscapes, as well as urban green infrastructure (such as trees, hedgerows, parks, fields, forests) and urban blue infrastructure (such as rainwater tanks, bioswales, rivers, canals, ponds, wetlands, and floodplains).

The hot and dry weather yesterday (July 19) meant it was a very busy day for both our control room operators and our crews across the county.

On an average day Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service attends 12 incidents, and from 6am yesterday until 6am this morning (July 20) we had 71 incidents logged on our summary of incidents.

Yesterday was only the second time in more than a decade that we have mobilised all our on-call firefighters, which is around 190 people. This was successfully implemented thanks to pre-planning that took place as soon as the forecasts predicted the current heatwave, and enabled NFRS to scale up and meet any demand.

The incidents we attended yesterday included a large number of fires, including field fires in Church Brampton, Lowick and Islip. We also attended a large house fire at Hawkstone Close in Northampton.

Sadly, we also had eight fires that after preliminary investigations indicate they were started deliberately. Even in normal times, deliberately starting a fire is reckless but this is especially the case when the ground is as dry as it currently is. This needlessly puts lives in danger, not only members of the public and our firefighters, but also the person setting the fire.

We would urge Northamptonshire residents to remain vigilant today. Although temperatures have cooled, the dry conditions still mean that the risk of fire can be incredibly high.

We would also again urge people not to light floating sky lanterns (also known as Chinese Lanterns). We received reports of these devices being set alight in Earls Barton yesterday evening and strongly advise that people do not use them.

Tonight we've unbelievably had reports of 'Floating sky lanterns' (also referred to as Chinese Lanterns) in the Earls Barton area. These pose a HUGE fire risk all year round but tonight, it is quite frankly reckless and endangering life, wildlife, crops & property. PLEASE STOP! pic.twitter.com/PycedFTSJ9

— Northamptonshire Fire & Rescue (@northantsfire) July 19, 2022

Please ensure that any cigarettes or BBQs are safely disposed of, and we would encourage people to steer clear of going into unguarded open water to swim. If people do find themselves in trouble in the water, please adopt a star shape on your back and float to live.

You can find more summer safety advice on our #Safe4Summer campaign page here: https://www.northantsfire.gov.uk/outdoor-safety/safe4summer-campaign/

Chief Fire Officer Darren Dovey said: “I would like to pay tribute to the incredible work undertaken yesterday by both our Control Room operators and our fire crews across the county in what were extremely challenging conditions.

“We received many more calls than we would on a regular day, and although we were very busy, we were able to sufficiently cover all parts of the county safely throughout the day. We were also able to assist neighbouring services that had declared major incidents, and Operation Willow Beck meant our control room helped to field calls that were overspilling from London.

“We would also like to thank members of the public who have heeded all the safety messages that have been going out this week and have played their part, it really does make a difference.”

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19 July 2022

Councillors have set out aspirations for faster and more frequent local trains for West Northamptonshire residents as they embark upon discussions with rail operators to shape future services ahead of HS2.

West Northamptonshire Council’s Cabinet recently agreed a ‘shopping list’ for how they want to see rail services improved at Northampton, Long Buckby, Rugby and Milton Keynes stations, to help guide ongoing talks with the West Coast Partnership (WCP) which operates the West Coast Mainline.

Phase one of HS2, now under construction and scheduled to open in stages between 2029 and 2034, will take long distance city-to-city traffic away from the southern end of the West Coast Main line and free up capacity for services to stations serving West Northants.

The Government’s Department for Transport (DfT), which is responsible for future consultation on rail services, has sanctioned a move by WNC to hold ongoing discussions directly with WCP, to influence the shaping of future proposals for the rail line once HS2 is completed.

Moving forward these talks for West Northamptonshire is Cllr William Barter, WNC’s Assistant Cabinet Member for environment, transport, highways, and waste, who said: “It may seem a long way off, but the decisions we make now will have far reaching implications and it is important the people of West Northants have their needs heard.

"Currently, rail services for our local area take second place to the long-distance trains, which means our local services are less frequent and have longer journey times than we would like.

"With HS2 on its way to divert city-to-city travel and the West Coast Partnership already beginning its work to advise the DfT on future local service patterns, it’s crucial our Council is also around the table and able to influence these future proposals.

"This is a real opportunity to influence emerging proposals in favour of West Northamptonshire and our aspirations agreed by Cabinet will underpin all our efforts in doing so."

You can view the rail aspirations set by WNC and further information within the recent Cabinet report.