Clause 41 - Fire hydrants
Fire and Rescue Services Bill
10:30 am
Mr John Pugh (Education Spokesperson, Education & Skills; Southport, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 188, in
clause 41, page 19, line 13, at end insert—
'(a) where such a notice or mark would be fixed to a listed building the Fire and Rescue Authority shall consult with the Planning Authority on the appropriate style and fixing of the notice or mark.'.
The amendment is not at all inconsistent with the thrust of the legislation. It is an attempt to get some clarification on the sensitive matter of civic architecture, I guess. It is quite clear that there must be obvious and easily identifiable forms of marking for the location of fire hydrants, and the water authority must ensure that there is a realistic expectation that one will find a hydrant in one place rather than another. Signage must be clear, obvious and easily detectable in an emergency. However, there are other issues in certain areas, one of which is aesthetics, building construction, and so on. That ought to be taken into account, rather than the water undertaker having the right simply to slap a sign wherever he feels it should go.
I do not necessarily argue that the local civic society should chose the location of a fire hydrant or a sign for it, but we need to achieve a balance. It may be that that balance is indirectly achieved through the consequential effects of the legislation, which may have no power to overrule ordinary planning rules and regulations. The amendment is designed to find out whether that is the case, and whether the balance will be achieved. That is why we are simply asking for there to be consultation with the planning authority on the appropriate style and fixing of the notice or mark. The fixing and placing is probably more important than the
style, because there is probably a requirement for uniformity of style. I am not sold on any tweaking of the amendment.