Proposed by Councillor Lesley Rennie

Seconded by Councillor Gerry Ellis

Following major incidents throughout the country where fire has taken life, wrecked homes, destroyed business and local communities along with the impact fire has on the environment.

This Council fully supports the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority and the

National Fire Sprinkler Network in promoting the benefits and awareness of installing sprinkler systems in public buildings, schools, care homes, commercial premises, and residential properties in Merseyside and throughout the UK.

Sources of information stated below, highlight the need to raise awareness both locally, regionally and nationally of the impact fire has on our communities and the need for urgent and immediate action in bringing about a change in the current legislation.

A recent report from the BBC claims, almost half of new school buildings in England do not have fire safety sprinkler systems.

The government issued guidance two years ago saying sprinklers should be fitted in almost all new schools but 43% of schools to have been re-built or refurbished under the multi-billion pound Building Schools for the Future programme lack sprinklers.

Leading Insurance broker, Zurich Insurance say fewer than 500 out of the 32,000 schools in the UK have them. Every week 20 schools are destroyed or damaged by fire. In one fire, at Tideway Community School in Newhaven, East Sussex in 2005, 40 classrooms were damaged. The school was rebuilt at a cost of £10.8m, the new buildings contained sprinklers.

Although the number of arson attacks fell slightly last year the cost of the damage rose to £65m. The government has said it expects sprinklers to be fitted in almost all new school buildings. But figures obtained by the BBC from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) show many local authorities are deciding not to fit them.

The Chief Fire Officers Association says “local authorities which choose not to fit them are putting the safety of pupils and staff at risk. It is calling for the government to make sprinklers mandatory in all new school buildings”.

Although the provision of sprinklers is not a requirement of the building regulations, education authorities should request that a risk assessment be undertaken to assess the validity of providing sprinklers in BSF schemes.

The Welsh Assembly insists on sprinklers being fitted in all new school buildings which it funds and has provided money to fit them in existing schools most at risk of arson.

In Scotland a working group will advise ministers later this year on changes to school building safety regulations, including any move to make sprinkler systems mandatory.

It is proven that the initial financial outlay is relatively small and will be recouped through lower insurance premiums.

(Source) Kent Fire & Rescue Service

Results from a recent survey:

• 88% of respondents believe sprinklers save lives and 83% now think sprinklers

react quickly to fire

• 83% of people think that sprinklers offer design freedoms and flexibilities

• 60% of respondents are now likely to request sprinkler installation

• 87% of all respondents felt that insurance premiums should be reduced for

properties fitted with sprinkler systems

• As a result of the Kent Fire & Rescue Service 'Safer with Sprinklers' campaign, 61% of people have now advised others about the benefits of sprinklers

• A very positive change in perception is that now 65% of people think sprinklers should be fitted into the homes of vulnerable people and schools, compared to 46% in 2007

Many negative perceptions about sprinklers have decreased since 2007. Fewer people now think that they flood buildings and are ugly and expensive.

As peoples’ attitudes towards sprinklers have become more positive, cost would appear to be the remaining major factor when considering sprinklers and their installation. Perceived installation and maintenance cost is a factor we will continue trying to address, by promoting the likely cost of specifying sprinklers, the use of low cost systems and by offering grants towards sprinkler systems in properties where vulnerable people are or will be living.

Sprinklers - the facts

• Effective: Fire sprinklers are by far the most efficient and effective safety devices available, having a better than 97% success rate world-wide.

• Life Safety Record: In the UK statistics show that there has never been a multiple loss of life in a building fully covered by sprinklers.

• Early alarm: More than 50 per cent of all fire casualties are either young, old or physically incapacitated. In conjunction with smoke alarms, fire sprinklers sound the alarm when they go off so they increase the time people have to escape or be rescued.

• Inexpensive: Residential fire sprinklers cost less than two per cent of an average new house – or about the price of good carpeting.

• Reliability: Sprinklers are designed to last for 50 years and the chance of

accidental operation, due to manufacturers’ defects, in service is *1:16,000,000

(one in sixteen million). Less than your chance of winning the lottery!

• Operational facts: Each sprinkler head is individually triggered by the heat of the fire and the system will gain control of the fire long before the Fire and Rescue Service is called. Only the sprinkler head nearest to the fire goes off - NOT all of them.

• Limited water damage: Sprinklers use much less water than the Fire and Rescue Service. Because the sprinkler system tackles the fire immediately, it only has a small fire to deal with. A fire sprinkler uses between 1/25th and 1/100th of the water used by each fire hose – so, in the event of a fire, sprinklers will minimise water damage.

• Easy to install: Modern residential sprinklers are small, neat and unobtrusive and visitors are seldom able to spot them – concealed versions are now available.

• Construction trade-offs: Sprinklers can save on construction costs because,

under the Building Regulations, larger compartments or rooms may be

constructed. Structural fire protection may also be reduced.

We therefore support and encourage the campaign that all local authorities, Social Landlords and Businesses to voluntarily include sprinklers systems in any future investment programme such as, schools, care homes, public buildings, and houses of multiple occupation and family homes, commercial or retail premises.

As such Wirral Council undertakes to:

(1) Review the present Building Schools for the Future schemes.

(2) Review the Capital Works Programme for Kitchens/Dining Rooms in Schools scheduled for 2009/10.

 (3) Review the Schools and Early Years Capital Works Programme for future years.

(4) Review the Leisure Service Capital Works Programme for future years, and any other public facility where sprinkler systems will improve public safety and protect the fabric of the building.

Council requests that the terms of this motion are forwarded to all Merseyside MPs, Social Landlords, Lord McKenzie of Luton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, DCLG with responsibility for Buildings Regulations, Shahid Malik MP, Minister of State with responsibility for the Fire Service and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority to express our support for a change in the current legislation and engage their support for this important campaign.

The motion was put to the vote and carried unanimously.

Resolved (unanimously) – That the motion be approved.