The Draft London Safety Plan Finance & Support Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee 10 January 2005

10 January 2005 The Committee is invited to seek assurances from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority that the proposals in the London Safety Plan to close Manchester Square fire station, alongside the removal of appliances from adjacent stations, will not increase risks to lives and property in Westminster

10 January 2005 Principal Proposals Improvement overall standard of emergency response across London Transfer of 10 appliances from existing stations across London: Reduction of one appliance from Westminster Fire Station Reduction of one appliance from each of Euston, Knightsbridge and Kensington Fire Stations

10 January 2005 Principal Proposals Closure of Manchester Square during 2005/6 Loss of 72 operational fire staff from Westminster (from existing %) Removal of central government response criteria In Central London, two appliances to be sent initially to property fires rather than existing three

10 January 2005 Performance Proposals “We intend to … maintain our current performance for how long it will take for the first fire engine to arrive at an incident (65% in approximately 5 minutes and 90% in approximately 8 minutes) but consider whether it would be appropriate and practicable to move towards a more even attendance.” Source: The Draft London Safety Plan 2005/08, LFEPA, December 2004

10 January 2005 Performance Proposals “We intend to … set a new standard that, where a second fire engine is needed, it will arrive within approximately 8 minutes on 75% of occasions and within approximately 10 minutes on 90% of occasions.” Source: The Draft London Safety Plan 2005/08, LFEPA, December 2004

10 January 2005 Existing response time

10 January 2005 Impact of closing Manchester Square “291. We have looked at what would happen if we closed Manchester Square fire station and removed its two fire engines. This research shows that if we closed the station we would still expect to get the first fire engine to an incident in Westminster within five minutes for nearly 58% of incidents, instead of 64% as now.” Source: The Draft London Safety Plan 2005/08, LFEPA, December 2004

10 January 2005 Impact of closing Manchester Square “292. The second fire engine would arrive at incidents in Westminster within 8 minutes for 93% of incidents, instead of just over 98% as now.” Source: The Draft London Safety Plan 2005/08, LFEPA, December 2004

10 January 2005 Current appliance distribution Kensington N. Kensington Paddington Euston Soho Knightsbridge Westminster Manchester Square Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster Map showing distribution of serious fires, 2003/4 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

10 January 2005 Proposed appliance distribution 6 appliances redistributed Kensington N. Kensington Paddington Euston Soho Knightsbridge Westminster Map showing distribution of serious fires, 2003/4 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

10 January 2005 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster Distances from Manchester Square of existing Fire Stations Manchester Square Kensington N. Kensington Paddington Euston Soho Knightsbridge Westminster 1.2 Miles 1.8 Miles Map showing distribution of serious fires, 2003/4

10 January 2005 Within ½ mile of Manchester Square

10 January 2005 Within 1/2 mile radius of Manchester Square 31 Embassies Including United States and Chinese Embassies 7 Educational Establishments 3 London Underground Stations 5 Hospitals Plus BBC Broadcasting House, Madame Tussaud’s

10 January 2005 Within 1 mile radius of Manchester Square 49 Embassies Including Saudi Arabia, France, Japan, US and China 20 Educational Establishments 17 London Underground Stations 18 Hospitals

10 January 2005 Stations within 2 miles of Manchester Square

10 January 2005 Source: Safer London – News from the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, December 2004

10 January 2005 Borough Fire Deaths /4 Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004 Westminster

10 January of the 1,464 fires on average annually are serious with injury or damage to property – 16 serious fires per week Westminster has the 5 th highest number of serious fires in London More people are killed in road accidents per head of population than any other borough in the country Westminster is the largest licensing authority in England with over 3,000 premises

10 January 2005 Source: Westminster City Council Kensington N. Kensington Paddington Euston Soho Knightsbridge Westminster Manchester Square Current appliance distribution – density of licensed premises Map showing density of licensed premises

10 January 2005 Kensington N. Kensington Paddington Euston Soho Knightsbridge Westminster Proposed appliance distribution – density of licensed premises 6 appliances redistributed Source: Westminster City Council Map showing density of licensed premises

10 January 2005 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

10 January 2005 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster Correct population is 222,018 (Mid Year ’03) Government Actuary suggesting growth to 282,000 by people per hectare - increases to 127 per hectare when Royal Parks are excluded Area reduces to 1,755 hectares when Royal Parks are excluded (1/5th of the City is Royal Parks)

10 January 2005 Population Westminster becomes second most densely populated borough in London if the Royal Parks’ area is excluded Over half of the 21 most densely populated wards in London are in Westminster Over 1 million people visit the City every day – concentrated in the West End and Oxford Street commercial areas

10 January 2005 Accidental Fire Deaths – Types of Premises 2003/4 Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004

10 January 2005 Housing 88% of private rented occupation in Westminster is multi-occupancy Of which 50% are purpose- built and 28% are converted flats The majority of conversions do not conform to the minimum building regulations today in terms of fire safety Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster “Levels of population density and overcrowding are high in Westminster. This is reflected in the fact that nearly 90% of residents live in flats, apartments or maisonettes. Fire are statistically more likely to occur in these types of property.”

10 January 2005 Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Approximately 95% of the multiple occupancy HMO properties within the private sector are at least three stories There is a significantly increased risk of dying or being injured in a fire within an HMO – the fatality rate in 3+ storey HMO’s is around four times that for 1-2 storey HMO’s. Westminster has the highest proportion on three or more storey HMO’s nationally

10 January 2005 Types of housing % of Household Spaces with Residents by Accommodation Type HousesFlats or Maisonettes % of household spaces London Westminster Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

10 January 2005 “Hotspot” Map of HMO’s in Manchester Square’s Area

10 January 2005 Deprivation

10 January 2005 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster “We have a risk based fire safety inspection Programme and every workplace we check is risk graded and given a score of between 10 and 90, where 90 is the highest risk. So far 6,461 workplaces in Westminster have been categorised (there are 31,920 non-domestic buildings in Westminster).”

10 January 2005 Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

10 January 2005 Risk rated buildings Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004

10 January 2005 Risk rated buildings with Manchester Square Area Overlay Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004

10 January 2005 Summary The quality and accuracy of the data in the draft London Safety report used to assess the needs of Westminster. Is the demographic profile of Westminster outlined in the plan accurate and comprehensive? Additional risks posed by housing tenure and status of risk rating Impact on Community Safety Fire initiatives