Agenda item

(Copy of Scottish Fire & Rescue Service report and Plan 2014-2017 attached).

1.1         Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)

There had been circulated copies of a report to inform the Eildon Locality Committee of the SFRS activity since 9 March 2017.  Stephen Mitchell, Station Manager at Galashiels was present at the meeting to provide clarification and answer questions.  Following a summary of Response and Resilience activity, the report went on to list and detail areas of partnership working and ongoing Prevention and Protection work in the Eildon area.  SFRS staff in all stations continued to provide free home fire safety visits all year round, focussing on identifying and reducing the risks of fire in the home and as part of this service, smoke detectors with a 10 year battery life were also provided as required.  Staff also continued to deliver road safety awareness training to students from Borders College and this year on year initiative delivered during the academic year targeted young drivers and prospective drivers from across the entire Scottish Borders.  SFRS staff were also supporting the Under 17s Borders Drivewise Project, which would be delivered over 14 days from April to October at Charterhall airfield near Duns.  All 9 secondary schools were participating and it was anticipated that around 700 students would receive driver awareness and road safety training as a result of the initiative.  All stations continued to participate in the British Heart Foundation initiative which delivered CPR training to the public on a request basis, building resilience and driving down the number of cardiac fatalities within the community.  SFRS was working in partnership with the TD1 Youth Hub in Galashiels and Community Learning Development in planning the delivery of a second programme of an award-winning diversionary initiative to a further eight students over the summer months.  Staff from SFRS also maintained their mentoring role of a young person from the TD1 project.  Primary 6 pupils were engaged in the Firesharp initiative which provided face to face education within local primary schools on matters of fire risk and prevention.  SFRS actively built on and developed partnerships and the report summarised work ongoing in these areas.  Moving into summer, the seasonal community safety calendar and thematic action plan would focus on:- deliberate fire setting and fire-related anti-social behaviour; summer safety; water safety; and wildlife and outdoor fire safety.  With regard to the SFRS retained duty system, the report advised that the service was currently seeking to recruit firefighters at the Galashiels Community Fire Station.  There had also been circulated the SFRS Scottish Borders Local Fire and Rescue Plan Review 2014 – 2017 which would inform the planning process for the 2017-20 plan due for publication in late 2017.  Station Manager Mitchell asked that any comments be directed to him as detailed in the document.  The Chairman thanked Station Manager Mitchell for his attendance.

5.2       Police Scotland

Inspector Tony Hodges was in attendance to give a presentation detailing the Community Policing structure within “J” Division, including maps of the areas for information.  The presentation summarised the geographical coverage of the Eildon area and across “J” Division (Lothians and Scottish Borders) as a whole.  Inspector Hodges explained that “J” Division comprised East, Mid and West Lothians and the Scottish Borders.  “J” Division was headed by Divisional Commander CS Ivor Marshall, with Chief Inspector Andy McLean being Commander for the Scottish Borders area.  Within the Division were a number of Community Policing Teams and Response Policing Teams.  The Scottish Borders area was based on three geographical divisions (namely North, East and South), each with its own Inspector, Sergeant, Community Beat Officers (CBOs) and Youth Community Officers (YCOs).  Eildon area was part of the North Community Policing Area (NCPA) which covered Galashiels, Peebles, Eddleston, Innerleithen, Walkerburn, West Linton, Broughton, Melrose and Tweedbank; Inspector Hodges and Sergeant Duncan Marker and their team of seven CBOs and two YCO were based in the NCPA.  The presentation listed the individual CBOs and YCOs and the areas they covered.  Inspector Hodges advised that the new locality-based Scottish Borders Local Policing Plan would, going forward, be linked to SBC’s Local Outcome Improvement Plan.  Discussion on this followed and Inspector Hodges explained that the way in which Police Scotland reports were presented to the Committee was likely to change, eg the basis of the reports might focus on a small number of key trends or issues of interest within the community, with others added by making contact with Inspector Hodges directly.  With regard to attendance at Community Council meetings, Members were advised that there was no formal requirement for CPOs to be in attendance however they did so whenever shift availability allowed.  It was suggested that perhaps CPO attendance could be targeted to when there were specific concerns within a particular area.  Inspector Hodges clarified a number of issues raised by Members and confirmed that there were no armed officers currently based in the Scottish Borders.  Members were advised that Inspector Hodges’ presentation would be circulated for information in due course.

DECISION

NOTED the updates.