Joint control room for Notts and Derby emergency services goes live
Emergency service control rooms for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have been merged after a year of planning.
Following preparation for the joint project, it was announced on July 1 that the two counties will now share control rooms in responding to fire and rescue emergencies based at Derbyshire's Ascot Drive fire station.
The new merger operates using a tri-service mobilising system that Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire emergency services have used to handle 999 calls and mobilise crews to incidents since 2015.
This allows all three services to see over county borders and call the nearest fire engine, police car or ambulance to the incident.
Nottinghamshire's chief fire officer, John Buckley said the emergency services launched their strategic plan in April outlining ten projects for year one which supports the "vision for creating safer communities".
"Introducing Tri-Service Control back in 2015 was about ensuring we continued to effectively function cross-borders, so that the nearest asset was mobilised to an incident, no matter where in the three counties that appliance happened to be. This remains at the core of what we do, keeping our communities safe. Creating a joint Control room at Ascot Drive means a change of location but the function remains the same.
"Full credit must go to our fantastic staff in our Control rooms who have fully engaged in this process,” he added.
And although no compulsory redundancies have yet been made as a result of the process, the merger means Nottinghamshire's control room staff have been transferred to Derbyshire, however, this will not affect the level of service provided to anyone calling in an emergency.
The efficiency and effectiveness of emergency call handling is thought to be improved through the joint venture which puts the safety of both county communities first, according to Terry McDermott, Derbyshire's chief executive fire officer.
Terry said that through "proactive prevention campaigning" over the past ten years the fire and rescue service has nationally reduced the number of attendances to emergency incidents.
"This has resulted in a reduction in the number of 999 emergency calls received and has therefore provided an opportunity for us to review the delivery of our call handling provision, to ensure it is as effective and efficient as it can be in line with the demand for service from our communities.
He added: "I’d like to take this opportunity to praise all the control room staff, from both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, who have worked closely with the project team to deliver the joint control project and more importantly, I’d like to welcome our new colleagues from Nottinghamshire to Derbyshire.”
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire's police and fire services agreed in February to combine and move their headquarters to Sherwood Lodge by 2021, costing about £18.5 million. The current Bestwood Lodge headquarters of the fire service will then be sold.
