Agenda item

Avon Fire and Rescue will provide the forum with an operational update. This will be followed by the opportunity for questions to be taken.

A service summary for Bath was provided by Matthew Crovetto, Station Manager for Bath and Hicks Gate Fire Stations. Matthew explained that the overall numbers of dwelling fires has reduced year on year.

A strong emphasis on river safety was included in the update, it was explained that a trial is planned with a Doctor from the University of Bath on a water entry system.

Questions

Councillor Lin Patterson asked if there are any plans to relocate the Bath Fire Station. 

Matthew explained that there are no plans at this time from the Fire Authority.

Councillor Andrew Furse explained that the Council had installed signage along the river and has a river safety group meet to discuss the common causes of people who have entered the water. With the report of another fatality this year what more can be done?

Matthew explained that the latest casualty was outside the normal demographic and river entry point. Work continues to target younger people through the river safety group but any further thoughts on what more can be done will be welcomed.

Christine Boyd asked if the Fire Service and the Council could provide an explanation on how the licencing for Bath Christmas Market is dealt with. A concern was raised that on one day at the 2016 event there were very busy times where high numbers of people became contained in the narrow spaces along Abbey Churchyard/Kingston Parade, this appeared, from Ms Boyd’s point of view, to be close to becoming dangerous.

Ms Boyd expressed a view that this event was being run on temporary licences which were not sufficient in covering the escape routes and fire safety of the wooden chalets.  Ms Boyd asked under what regulatory regime was the licensing and planning carried out, is this published or publicly available

Les Redwood responded to this enquiry due to his experience of working on the Bath Christmas Market with Visit Bath. Les explained that the Safety Advisory Group for Events (SAGE) work together with Visit Bath to ensure that the licences for fire safety, community safety and food hygiene are applied for and adhered to responsibly. It was pointed out that gaining the necessary licences is not an easy process and the whole  planning and preparation cycle takes several months but the market always gained the required licencing which meet national regulations. In 2016 there had been a very busy weekend where Bath Rugby had a home game when the market was open; this saw footfall increase in the certain parts of the market footprint. In the following year the footprint of the Christmas Market had been expanded to address such issues and that would be the case again for the forthcoming Christmas market.

Paul Roles asked how the numbers of visitors to the market were managed.

Les Redwood explained that Security covers the market site twenty-four hours a day and they have links into the CCTV where the need for additional safety measures need to be put in place. There are one way footprints that can be used if numbers of people need to be managed; the Police and Fire Service work with the market security in planning for emergencies. In 2017 the footprint of the market was changed and this saw the chalets numbers reduce which are close to the Abbey, this year there are plans are to locate a number of the chalets into the Milsom Street area of the City. 

Councillor Peter Turner asked if there are regulation fire safety mandates put upon short term holiday lets in the same way that residents have to adhere to?

Notes are available that covered the topic of holiday lets at an earlier Bath City Forum Meeting. If anything further is required a written response would need to be submitted.

Ben Palmer asked if First Bus had held any discussions with the Fire Service around the changes to university bus routes.

Matthew explained that there had not been any direct interaction with First Bus. The change to the route for some passengers does cross the river but this is via a safe bridge and is not seen as a drastic change.