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Emergency services planning protocol
Essex covers an area of 1,400 square miles and a population of over 1.8 million. It is one of the fifth most populated counties in England.
The housing needs of Essex are anticipated to increase with the county's growing population. It is projected that by 2040, 187,331 more homes will be needed for the predicted additional 447,907 people who will be living in Essex.
Emergency services, local authorities, developers, and infrastructure providers will work together to deliver safe, secure, and sustainable developments.
Together, we have created this protocol with the following goals and commitments. These are our objectives.
Working together
Essex Police is the largest non-metropolitan police force in the UK. We have more than six thousand police officers, staff, and volunteers. We work together to help people, keep people safe and catch criminals.
We receive more than 1,000 999 calls every day from people in Essex, needing our help.
We focus on supporting victims of crime and tackling violence in all its forms. We support vulnerable people across Essex and work hard to be visible to our communities.
We are committed to working with other emergency services, local authorities, planning teams and developers to make sure we provide the best service for our communities.
Chief Constable, BJ Harrington, said:
“Essex Police proudly supports the Emergency Services Planning Protocol. As our communities grow, we work closely with developers, local councils, and other emergency services to make sure new developments are safe and inclusive.
"Our Force Plan focuses on supporting victims, protecting vulnerable people, and preventing crime - particularly violence. By getting involved early in the planning process, we can help create safer places that support community wellbeing and effective policing. This protocol strengthens our commitment to protecting and serving the people of Essex."
We provide a 24 hour, 365 days a year emergency and urgent care ambulance service. From life-threatening conditions and illnesses, through to minor injuries. We help people across six counties, including Essex.
Every year, we receive over 1.3 million 999 calls from people who need our help. And we care for over half a million unwell people too.
We are committed to working with our emergency service partners and developers to ensure we can get to those who need our help as quickly as possible.
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Chief Executive Officer, Neill Moloney, said:
"Our teams are committed to working with Emergency colleagues, local authorities and developers to ensure we are providing the right care for our communities. Being involved in the planning and development process assists us in providing the best service we can as the communities we serve change at pace.
"We are keen to support all opportunities for co production and collaboration with our communities to improve the care we provide.”
We are one of the largest fire and rescue services in the country. We provide prevention, protection, and emergency response services from 50 fire stations across Essex.
Our priority is to protect businesses, people, the local economy and the environment from fire and wider community-related risks.
We are committed to working with developers, building control professionals, building owners, businesses and planning teams to identify and reduce risk.
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Chief Fire Officer, Rick Hylton, said:
“This is a great opportunity for all three emergency services, planning authorities, and developers to work together to make Essex a safe place to live, work and travel.
“Together we can better understand the impact that housing developments, population growth, and infrastructure changes may have. Being involved with planning processes from the earliest stage means we can align our safety priorities to these plans, ensuring the safety, health, and wellbeing of our communities.”
Essex Developers Group (EDG) brings together public and private sector partners to support the delivery of new and affordable homes across Essex. Working with the Government, Homes England, and local councils, EDG focuses on key areas like planning, construction skills, climate action, quality design, and support for smaller house builders.
The group includes developers, contractors, housing associations, local authorities, and consultants. Together, they aim to remove barriers to housebuilding and create sustainable, well-designed communities that meet local needs.
Mark Curle, Chair of Essex Developers Group, said:
“It has been a pleasure working with the three Emergency Services on safety and design in new housing schemes over the past few years. Early collaboration is key to safe and thriving communities and the Essex Developers Group we were especially pleased to be involved in the production of the Emergency Services Planning Protocol and its ongoing application in new development.”
Our goals
- Work with those involved in the planning of a development to ensure a safe environment. This includes reducing the fear of crime, fires and accidents that need an emergency response.
- Make sure the correct infrastructure is in place for when an emergency response is needed.
- Utilise existing legislation and agreements to meet the potential emergency service needs of the community.
Existing planning agreements include:
• Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs),
• Community Infrastructure Levy’s (CILs),
• Section 106 agreements.Section 106 agreements are legal agreements between local authorities and developers. They relate to planning permissions and are also known as planning obligations. The obligations can vary and often depend on the size and nature of the development proposed.
The purpose of the agreement is to reduce the impact of the development on the local community. This could include improvements to infrastructure and local services.
Our commitments
1. Safety and prevention
Engage with developers and local planning authorities to allow early identification and resolution of key issues.
We commit to supporting developers and local planning authorities with information and guidance on relevant building legislation for the safety and prevention of crime, fire, and other emergency incidents.
By incorporating prevention measures into infrastructure design at the earliest possible planning stage we can provide a built environment which is safer, more secure, and healthier for its community.
We believe that through supporting the integration of risk prevention measures within the design and layout of buildings, and associated infrastructure, developers will realise efficiency savings, attract new residents and business engagement.
Early coordination between emergency services and developers with the introduction of safety and preventative measures will enable the co-ordinated integration of community engagement teams.
2. Education and communication
Engage with developers and local planning authorities to raise awareness of emergency service requirements in infrastructure developments. Providing education for future generations to embed these practices into their work.
We commit to involve developers and local planning authorities in understanding the needs of the emergency services. Providing increased opportunities for engagement through briefing, educational courses, and emergency services advice.
High quality and consistent advice will be provided from each emergency service, with guidance on national and local policies to ensure safety and prevention measures are considered during the submission of a formal planning application.
Developers will be able to engage positively and directly with key officers from each emergency service via a dedicated email address.
3. Response
Engage with developers and local planning authorities to create building and infrastructure design that supports each emergency service achieve national response standard.
We commit to working with developers and local planning authorities to ensure new infrastructure and building developments are suitably designed to enable an efficient and effective emergency response.
Increase our collaborative work with developers to improve sharing of changes to the built environment allowing emergency services to assess the risks to properly resource their response.
Incorporation of emergency service response requirements in infrastructure design.