Foreword
Welcome to our Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) for 2025-28 which sets out how we will deliver our fire and rescue service over the next three years and highlights our key ambitions.
This plan has been produced in consultation with our communities and partners, to ensure it meets the needs of our communities and addresses the risks we face. It is aligned to our long-term ambition to be an outstanding fire and rescue service, as outlined in Our Ambition 2032 which is available on our website.
This CRMP builds on the strong performance of our last plan. We will be maintaining our focus on six strategic goals as we continue to work towards our ambition to deliver an outstanding fire and rescue service. In developing this plan, we have continued to be guided by our core purpose of “Creating Safer Communities”.
The communities of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are central to everything we do. Over recent years we have strengthened our links with community groups across the City and County, to better understand their needs and concerns. The insights these relationships provide, combined with other sources of information about how communities are changing, help us to develop and tailor our services. We value this dialogue and will continue to build and nurture these relationships over the life of this plan, to deepen our understanding of our communities. This will help to ensure our resources and services are used to best effect to support and protect those who are most vulnerable to the risk of fires or other emergencies.
We have made considerable improvements in our productivity over the course of the last CRMP, delivering record levels of prevention and protection activities, alongside more community engagement too. This work is central to making communities safer. We will strengthen our community engagement programme over the life of this plan, working more collaboratively with partners to deliver efficient and joined up services. We will work with local authorities and others to support economic and social development across the county, ensuring the buildings people live and work in comply with fire safety legislation.
It is important that the public have trust and confidence in us as an emergency service. Over the last 18 months, the fire sector has been widely criticised for its culture and values. We believe it is imperative that we have a safe and inclusive working environment where people can thrive, and that we fulfil our public duties in a professional and respectful way. The results of our 2024 staff survey indicate that a majority of our colleagues feel included and welcomed at work, and that they would feel confident to report concerns about any inappropriate behaviours or attitudes. However, there is always room for improvement, and we are not complacent. We will continue to invest in our cultural development and through our activities in the community to ensure we maintain public confidence.
As part of our commitment to being an inclusive employer, we have made a substantial investment in upgrading our station facilities to ensure they are accessible and provide dignity for all. We will invest further in our buildings during the life of this plan, to improve training and other facilities. We will also build a new community fire station to replace the ageing Stockhill fire station, which will be designed to use renewable energy sources.
There are other areas of investment which are needed to ensure the Service is fit for the future. We will invest in new emergency vehicles and operational equipment to ensure they align to the changing risks we face. We will also introduce a new emergency call handling and mobilising system.
We will continue to improve our environmental sustainability by increasing our fleet of electric support vehicles and taking opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of our buildings where we can.
Alongside this, we must ensure our investment programme is affordable. We consider the financial position of the Authority over the CRMP period against a backdrop of both national and local challenges. We have undertaken a number of reviews to ensure we have options to meet financial challenges that we may face during the three years of this plan. At the heart of any review is how we provide the best possible service to our communities while using our resources in the most efficient and effective way.
Our performance is independently assessed by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
Our most recent HMICFRS inspection took place in 2024. The inspection team judged our performance against eleven different criteria and their report confirms that we continue to be one of the best performing services in England. This reflects the collective hard work and dedication of our people who, every day of the year, deliver a service we can all be proud of. We hope that this judgement gives you, the public, confidence that we are doing the right things in the right way. However, we are not resting on our laurels. We continue to adapt and improve as our communities, society and risks evolve to ensure we use our resources and deliver our services in the most efficient and effective way.
You will find further information about this CRMP, and the strategies and delivery plans which support it, on our website.
