By Paul Williams (Joint LRF Manager, Wiltshire and Swindon)

“Our dear Channel Islands….” (Winston Spencer Churchill – June 1945)

“Mr Bailiff, I am most grateful to you and to the States for the warm welcome you have extended….” (King Charles III – July 2024)

“Channel Island colleagues, thank you so much for welcoming us to your islands to showcase and discuss all things resilience….” (Paul Williams – July 2024)

LRFs cannot, and do not, work in isolation of one another. Since the abolition of Government Offices in 2011, Wiltshire and Swindon LRF has been at the forefront of fostering and driving forward work on a regional basis. It has been a lead in the South-West. Geographically, Wiltshire sits on the eastern edge of the South-West region and recognises the importance of having productive relationships with neighbouring Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and Thames Valley LRFs who sit in the South-East. Interestingly, we have recently conducted a Peer Review with Hampshire.

Across the South-West and South-East there is a growing spirit of partnership between LRFs. The LRF Managers for both regions meet frequently. All LRF Managers recognise the benefit of networking to among other things, provide support to one another, discuss matters of mutual interest, share information and ideas, exchange views and identify best practice. LRF Managers are a select group (there’s less LRF Managers than Football Managers!). We understand our respective roles and share unique experiences and there is sometimes a need for us to decompress together as well. Keeping an oversight of the national picture is crucial, so maintaining an ongoing and positive relationship with Central Government through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is an important part of daily work ensuring LRF Managers are kept up to date with Government thinking. This liaison is a two-way process because LRF Managers are able to feed-in the local picture to Government too.

The Channel Islands have always been an enthusiastic member of the South-West group. They travel to the mainland every two months to attend meetings in person and bring a different and valuable perspective to the table. Interestingly, they have their own legislation, so they do not have the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which governs resilience activity in England and Wales. 

In the last couple of years, the Channel Islands have experienced a succession of major incidents, including a gas explosion resulting in a significant loss of life and requiring mutual aid from the UK, a fishing vessel sinking and a substantial flooding incident. The island was also majorly impacted by Storm Ciaran which mostly missed the rest of the UK.

The Channel Islands have often offered to host a joint meeting and 2024 seems to have been our year. Travel to Jersey is cheaper than travelling on the train to London for a business meeting!

So, we all set off on Thursday 18^th July from a variety of airports in the South to convene in St Helier and partake of the Channel Islands hospitality. We literally arrived in the wake of the visit by the King and Queen earlier in the week which had proved a busy time for the island authorities. Disappointingly, that visit was dampened by heavy rain. By contrast, our visit coincided with a two-day mini heatwave enabling us to see Jersey at its best!

The couple of days we spent together were hugely productive.

Day 1 was the Channel Islands Showcase, a workshop outlining to us their major incidents, the specific challenges unique to a small island and how they were overcome. These challenges were certainly recognised by both Hampshire and Devon and Cornwall LRF colleagues, who have the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly within their geographic boundaries. By coincidence, both areas were involved in providing mutual aid to Jersey. The LRF Managers really appreciated the Chief Officers and others from the Channel Islands taking the time out to engage with them and this allowed for open and honest discussion, reflection and joint learning all round.

We took the opportunity to spend time with our Channel Island peers and some of their chief officers on the Thursday evening; it’s always good to find out more about your colleagues and make wider contacts in the informal atmosphere of a restaurant and bar.

Day 2 was the actual meeting of the LRF Managers and was chaired by Paul Williams, Joint Manager of Wiltshire and Swindon LRF. This was the first time there has been a physical joint meeting of the combined South-West and South-East LRF Managers, and many items of mutual interest were covered. By chance, the Covid-19 Module 1 Report was published the previous day, and this generated a great deal of interest and discussion. The meeting itself coincided with the worldwide CrowdStrike IT outage – it just wouldn’t have been an LRF Managers meeting without some sort of crisis! This meant that MHCLG could not join the meeting.

Going to Jersey as a collective and engaging with Channel Island colleagues was productive, informative and provided a rich learning experience. It gave the LRF Managers clear space away from the daily working environment to undertake some shared thinking around important and topical subjects. 

With diminishing resources and capacity locally, it is important that LRFs cooperate and work more closely where they can. As already highlighted, since the closure of Government Offices, the South-West LRF Managers have worked closely together, and this spirit of teamwork has extended into the South-East. The two areas border each other and are looking for closer collaboration where it makes sense to do so. Already, the South-East is represented at South-West meetings and vice versa. This was the first joint meeting of both regions, and it is hoped to repeat it on an annual basis. 

We had a productive and successful two days, benefiting from closer networking across the South and learning from each other and are looking forward to future events. The key is looking at ways of extending our boundaries beyond the comfort of our own LRFs and seeking chances for collaboration and joint working where appropriate. This broadens our thinking and presents new ideas and opportunities. Why do something numerous times when it can perhaps be done just once? 

Our Jersey visit was business-like, clear and focussed. Naturally, we maximised the limited time available to appreciate some of the local attractions and hospitality too!

The South-West consists of Avon and Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire and Swindon LRFs plus the Channel Islands.

The South-East consists of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley LRFs plus London.