Review of Emergency Response Provision:
Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Contents Introduction ...... 3 Description of Cluster ...... 4 Cluster Demographics and Population Risk Factors...... 5 Deprivation ...... 7 Overall Cluster Risk ...... 8 Dwellings ...... 8 Special Service ...... 9 Geodemographic Segmentation ...... 10 Cluster Geodemographic Segmentation ...... 11 Building Usage as a Risk Identifier ...... 13 Other Building Risk ...... 14 Sleeping Accommodation Risk ...... 14 Hospitals ...... 15 Care Homes ...... 16 HMOs ...... 17 Hotels ...... 18 Non Sleeping Accommodation Risk ...... 19 Factories or Warehouses ...... 20 Further Education Establishments ...... 21 Licensed Premises ...... 22 Offices ...... 23 Premises Open to the Public ...... 24 Other Sleeping Accommodation ...... 25 Other Workplaces ...... 26 Public Buildings...... 27 Schools ...... 28 Shops ...... 29 Specific Risks within the Cluster ...... 30 COMAH Sites...... 32 Infrastructure Risk ...... 33 Roads ...... 34 Rail ...... 35 Aviation ...... 36 Ports ...... 37 Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) ...... 38 Flooding ...... 39 Existing KFRS Arrangements ...... 40 Future Development ...... 42 Population and Housing ...... 43 Major Developments ...... 43 2
RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Introduction In order to effectively assess the fire cover provision which is required to achieve the stated aims of the Authority an assessment of the risk factors for Kent and Medway needs to be undertaken. This document forms part of a suite of Risk Profile documents which segment the county into 19 geographically identifiable areas thereby allowing for a simplification of the assessment of the county wide risk.
Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority (KMFRA) divide the county into 19 clusters based on internal working arrangements and the day to day work activities of its personnel. These clusters have been in use since 2011 to analyse and report incident activity, creating a wealth of information which is used to gain a deep understanding of activity within each cluster. It therefore follows that these clusters be used as a backdrop to provide risk information, as this allows for a continuity of analysis across the RERP2 project. The map below illustrates these clusters.
Information regarding risk factors has been obtained from a number of sources in order to provide a detailed level of risk for individual cluster.
Much of the data within this document has been derived from information provided by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) a Government department charged with the collection and publication of statistics related to the economy, population and society. In March 2011 the ONS conducted the most recent census of the population. It is this information which is used extensively throughout this document as the most accurate societal data available.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Each Local Authority within Kent and Medway has produced a Local Development Plan. These documents detail the strategic developments which are planned for their area of responsibility, and as such are referenced to give an indication of the future risk within the cluster.
KMFRA has significant experience in planning for emergencies in sites of specific risk; as such numerous sites have been identified through previous internal work. These sites have been included within this document.
This document describes the risk factors found in the Maidstone cluster.
Description of Cluster The Maidstone cluster covers a geographical area of approximately 161 square miles and has a population of 155,551 people, a figure which represents 9.0% of Kent and Medway’s population.
A map showing the cluster can be seen below.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Cluster Demographics and Population Risk Factors The most current and widely available information with which to highlight the population risk factors is the 2011 census data. This data has been used to describe the community composition of each cluster.
The following charts and tables provide information regarding the population, age and gender of the community which live within the Maidstone cluster.
The male to female ratio, age breakdown by gender and composite age breakdown are comparable to the Kent and Medway average.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Household types Total %
One Family - Married or Civil Partnership Couple - Dependent Children 11,060 17.42
One Person - Other 9,073 14.29
One Family - Married or Civil Partnership Couple - No Children 9,047 14.25
One Person - Aged 65 and Over 7,414 11.67
One Family - All Aged 65 and Over 6,111 9.62
One Family - Lone Parent - Dependent Children 4,241 6.68
One Family - Married or Civil Partnership Couple - All Children Non-Dependent 3,892 6.13
One Family - Cohabiting Couple - No Children 3,731 5.87
One Family - Cohabiting Couple - Dependent Children 2,695 4.24
Other - Other 2,382 3.75
One Family - Lone Parent - All Children Non-Dependent 1,909 3.01
Other - With Dependent Children 1,398 2.20
One Family - Cohabiting Couple - All Children Non-Dependent 288 0.45
Other - All Aged 65 and Over 170 0.27
Other - All Full-Time Students 96 0.15
Total households 63,507 Notes for Household types:
One family households are categorised by the presence of children into those with dependent children, those with non-dependent children only, and those with no children. Other households are categorised by the presence or absence of dependent children. Married includes those in a civil partnership. Households with dependent children include natural, adopted and step-children aged 0 to15 and those aged 16 to 18 in full-time education or training for work and living at home with parent(s) or grandparent(s) (excluding those who have a spouse, partner or child(ren) living in the household). Non-dependent children are all those living in a household with parent(s) or grandparent(s) who are not classified as dependent children. Other households include: households of more than one family; households comprised of unrelated adults sharing; those including one family and other unrelated adults; all full-time student households; and households in which all occupants are aged 65 and over.
In March 2011 there were 19,394 households with dependent children in the area.
In March 2011 there were 19,394 households with dependent children in the area. This represents 30.5% of households in the area. In addition 16,487 (25.96%) of households were comprised of a single person.
These figures are comparable to the rest of Kent and Medway. 6
RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Deprivation The indices of deprivation are used to classify households based on four selected household characteristics:
Employment Education Health and disability Housing
The map below shows the deprivation levels for the Maidstone cluster by output area when compared to the rest of Kent. Using the indices of deprivation as an indicator, the darker areas represent progressively more deprived localities.
There is a well-established correlation between dwelling fires and the measures of individual household characteristics detailed above.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Overall Cluster Risk Each Fire and Rescue Service has been provided with a tool with which to analyse risk within their area of responsibility. This tool is called the Fire Service Emergency Cover Toolkit, commonly referred to as FSEC.
FSEC can create a number of models relating to the risk within Kent and Medway area. The dwellings and special service models are detailed below as they provided the best representation of the work conducted by KMFRA and consist of incidents which present the highest level of risk to the community, namely Fires and Road Traffic Collisions.
Dwellings The dwellings model shown below shows the risks associated with the number of predicted fatalities within the localised area. This risk is derived from a number of factors including, but not limited to, demographic factors, historic incidents with the local area, the response provided by KMFRA into the area, and underlying risk derived from nationally recognised risk factors such as the number of pensioners or the amount of rented accommodation within the area.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Special Service (RTC) The special service model shown below shows the RTC risks associated with the number of predicted fatalities within a localised area. This risk is derived from the amount of RTC incidents within a predefined area of the road network and other geographical features where rescues may be necessary.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Geodemographic Segmentation Geodemographic segmentation refers to a range of methods which can be used to classify and characterise neighbourhoods or localities based on the principal that people who live near each other are likely to have similar demographic, socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics. This information allows KFRS to understand the demographics, lifestyles, preferences and behaviours of the people of Kent and Medway and thereby specifically target those who need us most.
KFRS uses a product called Mosaic Public Sector (Mosaic) as a source of this information. Mosaic categorises each property into fifteen top level categories each of which is further subdivided into further groupings, however these groups provide a level of detail which is not required for this document.
Each top level category is named and described in the table below.
Category Description Well-off owners in rural locations enjoying the benefits of Country Living country life Established families in large detached homes living Prestige Positions upmarket lifestyles High status city dwellers living in central locations and City Prosperity pursuing careers with high rewards Thriving families who are busy bringing up children and Domestic Success following careers Mature suburban owners living settled lives in mid-range Suburban Stability housing Elderly people with assets who are enjoying a comfortable Senior Security retirement Householders living in inexpensive homes in village Rural Reality communities Younger households settling down in housing priced within Aspiring Homemakers their means Residents of settled urban communities with a strong Urban Cohesion sense of identity Educated young people privately renting in urban Rental Hubs neighbourhoods Mature homeowners of value homes enjoying stable Modest Traditions lifestyles Single people privately renting low cost homes for the short Transient Renters term Families with limited resources who have to budget to Family Basics make ends meet Elderly people reliant on support to meet financial or Vintage Value practical needs Urban renters of social housing facing an array of Municipal Challenge challenges
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Cluster Geodemographic Segmentation The composition of the Maidstone cluster can be viewed in the chart below along with the average composition for Kent and Medway.
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Cluster Kent and Medway
The composition of the Maidstone cluster has significantly more than average Country Living, Prestige Positions and Domestic Success categories when compared to the average for the whole of Kent and Medway.
The cluster has fewer properties which fall into the Modest Transitions, Transient Renters, Family Basics and Vintage Value categories when compared to the average for Kent and Medway.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
The map below shows the most prominent category which makes up a localised area of the cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Building Usage as a Risk Identifier There is a well-established process embedded within Fire and Rescue Services nationally to recognise an identified building usage type as an indicator of the risk posed by that building. As such research has been undertaken to gain as much information on building usage within Kent and Medway, and wherever possible a quality assurance process has been undertaken to verify this data.
The first stage of acquiring this data was through the use of an Ordnance Survey Product called AddressBase Premium which is provided to KFRS under a public licence agreement. It provides a geographic dataset of addresses, properties and land areas where services are provided. By comparing known property types gained through fire safety inspections and operational intelligence with the information contained within AddressBase it has been found to be a suitable dataset to use when analysing risk data.
However, part of the established practice of using an identified building usage type as an indicator of the risk involves Fire and Rescue Services recognising that approximately 80% of the total risk from fire fatalities involves buildings where people sleep. This 80% of total risk can be attributed to specific categories of building usage:
Hospitals Care Homes Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) Hotels Hostels
For this reason additional research and cross-matching has been undertaken on specific building usage types to ensure a robust dataset. This research has involved building on the work undertaken in a previous Review of Emergency Response Provision Project and combining it with current information.
As an example of this work AddressBase lists 324 HMOs within Kent and Medway. Operational intelligence and fire safety records strongly indicate that there are significantly more HMOs within Kent and Medway than are recorded within AddressBase. The reason behind this may lie in the licensing scheme for HMOs which is conducted on a purely voluntary basis. It is suspected that only the licensed HMOs are recorded within AddressBase thereby giving a false impression of the number of this type of building Kent and Medway.
Additional internal data has therefore been used to supplement the dataset for HMOs to provide a more accurate assessment of risk for Kent and Medway and the individual clusters.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Other Building Risk It is well established that the use of a building has a large impact on the amount of risk that building poses to a community. This section details the usage of buildings other than dwellings.
Sleeping Accommodation Risk Those buildings which provide sleeping accommodation account for approximately 80% of total other building risk due to them having people sleeping in them overnight. These buildings are:
Hospitals Care Homes Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) Hotels Hostels
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Hospitals A hospital is defined as an institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for sick or injured people.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the hospitals’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
Bridge House, Maidstone Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust, Aylesford Kent Institute of Medicine & Survey, Bearsted The Heathside House Hospital, Coxheath The Red House, Maidstone The Somerfield Hospital, Maidstone Trevor Gibbens Unit, Maidstone
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Care Homes A care home is defined as a residential setting where a number of usually older people live, primarily in single rooms, and have access to on-site care services.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the care home category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
HMOs A House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) is defined as a property that is shared by three or more tenants who are not members of the same family.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the HMO category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Hotels A hotel is defined as an establishment providing accommodation, meals, and other services for travellers and tourists, by the night.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the hotels’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Non Sleeping Accommodation Risk Those buildings which do not provide sleeping accommodation account for approximately 20% of total other building risk. These are:
Factories or Warehouses Further Education Establishments Licensed Premises Offices Premises Open to the Public Other Sleeping Accommodation Other Workplaces Public Buildings Schools Shops
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Factories or Warehouses The Maidstone cluster has a significant amount of factories and warehousing with distinct pockets in the north of the cluster. Examples of this category include; factories, warehouses, mills and brickworks.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the factories and warehouse category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Further Education Establishments The further education establishments in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas. Examples of this category include; colleges, universities and other such training establishments.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the further education establishment category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Licensed Premises The licensed premises in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas with most villages also having one premise. Examples of this category include; public houses, social clubs and bingo halls.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the licensed premises’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Offices The offices in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the offices’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Premises Open to the Public Premises open to the public in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas. Examples of this category include; leisure centres, theatres and crematoriums.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the premises’ open to the public category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Other Sleeping Accommodation Other types of sleeping accommodation are few and sparsely located within the Maidstone cluster. Examples of this category include; police, fire and ambulance stations, and prisons.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the other sleeping accommodation category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Other Workplaces Other workplaces are spread throughout the Maidstone cluster. Examples of this category include; vehicle repair workshops, quarries and storage depots.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the other workplaces’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Public Buildings Public buildings in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas. Examples of this category include; libraries, museums and community centres.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the public buildings’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Schools Schools in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas. Examples of this category include primary and secondary schools and day nurseries.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the schools’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Shops Shops in the Maidstone cluster are predominantly located in or around the major urban areas. Examples of this category include; food courts, general retail and superstores.
The map below shows the locations of buildings which fall into the shops’ category within the Maidstone cluster.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Specific Risks within the Cluster KFRS has a process which identifies sites which pose a specific risk to the community should an incident occur at these locations. These sites are subjected to specific planning and training regimes in order to ensure KMFRA has the ability to respond correctly and effectively to the risks associated with these sites.
The Maidstone cluster has 22 such sites.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Site Type Risk Amethyst Group Storage Medium Berry Gardens Storage Medium Blantyre Prison Secure Facility Medium Boarley Court Dwelling Medium College Court Dwelling Medium Colman House Office Medium Crundale Court Dwelling Medium East Sutton Park Prison Secure Facility High Fremlin Walk Shopping Centre Medium Hawley Court Dwelling Low HMP Maidstone Secure Facility Medium Kent County Showground Event Centre Medium Kent History and Library Centre Office Medium Leeds Castle Historical Medium Lockmeadow Leisure Complex Event Centre Low Maidstone Hospital Hospital High Midhurst Court Dwelling Medium Sunningdale Court Dwelling Medium Tennyson Lodge Dwelling Medium The Mall Shopping Centre Medium Thomas Place Dwelling Medium Whatman International Manufacturing Medium
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
COMAH Sites The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH) and their amendments 2005, are the enforcing regulations within the United Kingdom which are applicable to any site which stores or handles large quantities of industrial chemicals of a hazardous nature. The regulations operate on two levels which depend on the sites status, either Top Tier or Lower Tier sites.
The Maidstone cluster has no COMAH sites within its boundary.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Infrastructure Risk The risk posed by the cluster’s infrastructure can be broken down into four main areas:
Roads Rail Aviation Ports
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Roads The Maidstone cluster contains a number of the county’s major roads including M20 motorway. The cluster also contains some major trunk roads including A229, A249, A20, A26 and A274.
There are 685 miles of carriageway within the cluster. The Maidstone cluster road composition is comparative to the average for the rest of Kent and Medway.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Rail A number of rail lines pass through the Maidstone cluster including the High Speed rail link.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Aviation There are no commercial airports within the Maidstone cluster.
The greatest risk is posed by Kent and Medway’s proximity to London airports including Heathrow and Gatwick and the fact that Kent and Medway sits below the flight path for many international flights.
Kent and Medway have a long established aviation tradition and there are many small airfields for light aircraft throughout the county.
The map below shows the major airports in the South East of England namely:
London Heathrow Airport Gatwick Airport London Biggin Hill Airport London City Airport Lydd Airport Rochester Airport
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Ports Kent and Medway have a significant amount of coastline and as such numerous small ports and harbours. Most villages and towns along the coast contain a mooring location which coupled with the various inland marinas along the rivers of the county present a level of risk to the community.
The map below shows the major ports, harbours and docks within the Kent and Medway namely:
Folkestone Dover Sheerness Thamesport Chatham Ridham Ramsgate Whitstable Dartford Grain LNG The Medway Ports
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) are sites which support plants, animals, protected species or natural habitats that find it difficult to survive in the wider countryside. These unique and varied habitats have developed over hundreds of years through management practices such as grazing and forestry, and require active management to maintain their conservation status.
The Maidstone cluster contains SSSIs as shown in the map above, including;
River Beult Marden Meadows Lenham Quarry Hollingbourne Downs Spot Lane Quarry, Bearsted Love Lane, Wateringbury Allington Quarry Oaken Wood Detling Escarpment
More details on the nature of these sites can be found at: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteList.aspx?siteName=&countyCode=24&res ponsiblePerson=
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Flooding In recent years the risk of flooding has greatly increased. Below is a map showing the areas of potential flooding within Kent and Medway. It shows the chance of flooding from rivers and the sea presented in categories which take into account flood defences and their current condition.
The village of Yalding and the surrounding area has a high flood risk and has attracted national attention during various flooding events.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Existing KFRS Arrangements The Maidstone cluster contains four fire stations, Maidstone, Lenham, Headcorn and Marden. Each station has a set number of resources which are based at the station. These resources can be crewed through differing crewing systems and provide differing capabilities as detailed in the table below.
Station ID Station Name Crewing Appliances 1x HRP 60 Maidstone W 1x RP 62 Lenham OC 1x P 63 Headcorn OC 1x P 64 Marden OC 1x P
OC = On-call
This crewing model uses firefighters who are called into the station when required from a remote location. These appliances are available either during the day, during the night or both as required by the Authority.
D = Day Crewed
This crewing model uses firefighters who are available at station during the day and on call at night. N.B. there are no Day Crewed stations within the Maidstone cluster.
W = Whole time shift
This crewing model uses firefighters who are continuously available for deployment 24 hours a day and are based at station.
P = Pump
These appliances make up the majority of the fleet and provide the backbone of our response. They carry no specialist rescue equipment.
RP = Rescue Pump
These appliances are located at stations where it has been deemed that a requirement for specialist rescue equipment exists. They carry some specialist rescue equipment and can respond to most Road Traffic Collisions.
HRP = Heavy Rescue Pump
These appliances are located at strategic stations and carry specialist rescue equipment. They are able to provide a respond to all incident types.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
The map below illustrates the area appliances can respond to from their base locations within 10 minutes. This includes the time period taken for the crews to respond into the station from another location, get ready and leave the station. This time period is known as turnout time.
The turnout time has been standardised as one minute for crews that are already on station and five minutes for crews responding from home or other locations.
Effectively, the turnout time reduces the distance an appliance can respond to within 10 minutes.
A number of specialist appliances are also based in the Maidstone cluster these include:
Technical Search and Rescue (TSAR) which provides a both National and local response to incidents which require a higher degree of technical capability such as collapsed buildings or difficult rescues. A Turntable Ladder (TL) which allows for rescue of trapped people above three floors A Fire Investigation vehicle (FI) which provides investigation capabilities to determine the cause of a fire. A Detection Identification and Monitoring vehicle (DIM) which is used to detect, identify and monitor unknown or known hazardous substances.
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
Future Development The Maidstone cluster encompasses the boundaries of five Local Borough Councils; Ashford, Swale, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells and is predominantly covered by the Maidstone Borough Council.
Each local council is required to produce a Core Strategy Document under the National Planning Policy Framework which has been referenced to assess the projected development and associated future risk within the cluster.
The Maidstone Core Strategy Document identifies main developmental areas; the Maidstone urban area, five rural service centres, larger villages and longer term opportunities.
The five rural service areas are:
Harrietsham Headcorn Lenham Marden Staplehurst
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RERP - Maidstone Cluster Risk Profile
The larger villages of:
Boughton Monchelsea Coxheath Eyhorne Street (Hollingbourne) Yalding.
And longer term sites for housing growth:
Maidstone Town Centre Invicta Park Barracks Lenham Village
Additional local development has also been identified in the Parkwood Estate area, Maidstone.
Population and Housing As with national trend predictions, the population of the Maidstone cluster is set to increase over the next ten years, necessitating an increase in available housing stock.
The Maidstone Core Strategy Document identifies 9,042 houses are to be built across the identified developmental areas detailed above.
Major Developments There are no further major developments highlighted for the Maidstone cluster other than those detailed above.
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