The Draft London Safety Plan

1. The Draft London Safety Plan Finance & Support Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee10 January 2005

2. The Committee is invited to seek assurances from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority that the proposals in the London Safety Plan 2005-8 to close Manchester Square fire station, alongside the removal of appliances from adjacent stations, will not increase risks to lives and property in Westminster

3. 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

4. Principal Proposals • Closure of Manchester Square during 2005/6 • Loss of 72 operational fire staff from Westminster (from existing 228 - 32%) • Removal of central government response criteria • In Central London, two appliances to be sent initially to property fires rather than existing three

5. 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

6. 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

7. Existing response time

8. 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

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

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

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

13. Within ½ mile of Manchester Square

14. 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

15. 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

16. Stations within 2 miles of Manchester Square

17. Source: Safer London – News from the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority, December 2004

18. Borough Fire Deaths - 2003/4 Westminster Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004

19. 841 of the 1,464 fires on average annually are serious with injury or damage to property – 16 serious fires per week • Westminster has the 5th 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

20. Current appliance distribution – density of licensed premises Euston ManchesterSquare Paddington N. Kensington Soho Kensington Knightsbridge Westminster Map showing density of licensed premises Source: Westminster City Council

21. Proposed appliance distribution – density of licensed premises Euston 6 appliancesredistributed Paddington N. Kensington Soho Kensington Knightsbridge Westminster Map showing density of licensed premises Source: Westminster City Council

22. Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

23. Area reduces to 1,755 hectares when Royal Parks are excluded (1/5th of the City is Royal Parks) Correct population is 222,018 (Mid Year ’03) Government Actuary suggesting growth to 282,000 by 2011 100 people per hectare - increases to 127 per hectare when Royal Parks are excluded Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

24. 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

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

26. 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 “Levels of population density andovercrowding are high in Westminster.This is reflected in the fact that nearly90% of residents live in flats, apartmentsor maisonettes. Fire are statistically morelikely to occur in these types of property.” Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

27. 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

28. Types of housing % of Household Spaces with Residents by Accommodation Type 100 90 London 80 Westminster 70 60 % of household spaces 50 40 30 20 10 0 Houses Flats or Maisonettes Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

29. “Hotspot” Map of HMO’s in Manchester Square’s Area

30. Deprivation

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

32. Source: The Draft London Safety Plan, Borough Profiles, City of Westminster

33. Risk rated buildings Source: The London Safety Plan, LFEPA, January 2004

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

35. 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