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Fire Statements – Part Eleven – How to fill out the application

October 25, 2021 11:05 am

As a requirement of Planning Gateway One, an amendment to the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order, which was introduced on the 1st August 2021, a form called a Fire Statement is to be submitted with a planning application for any development including a relevant high-rise building.

LWF’s blog series on the Fire Statements has looked at background, implementation and, from part six onwards, how the Fire Statement form should be filled out.

Section 6 of the Fire Statement application form requests Site Information. Part Eleven of the blog series begins at the last sub-column of the resident safety information section.

Fire Statement Form Section 6

Section 6 – Building Schedule – Resident Safety Information – Column J requires the applicant to provide information on any accessible housing provision to allow consideration of the potential characteristics of intended occupants. In conjunction with the previously given answers in Column H, which lays out the approach to evacuation, it will demonstrate how the developers have considered fire safety both in the housing of people with specialist requirements and the safe evacuation of such in a fire situation.

It should be borne in mind that M4(2) housing is that which is both accessible and adaptable for people with specialist needs and M4(3) housing is that which is designed for wheelchair users. The definitions are as per Approved Document M, volume 1. M4(2) and M4(3) are optional accessible housing standards and will be checked at building regulations application stage when required by a local plan policy and conditioned at planning consent stage. The answer given in Column J should be one of the following:

  • None – which indicates that residential use is intended, but no M4(2) or M4(3) housing is proposed.
  • M4(2) & M4(3)
  • M4(2)
  • M4(3)
  • N/A Non resi – the use described is not residential

Any additional information or explanation relating to this part of the Fire Statement form can be given in Section 8.

Section 7 of the Fire Statement form is a free text box which allows up to 500 words to explain any specific technical complexities in terms of fire safety. As an example, details might be given of a variation to the relevant standards, which could include extended horizontal pipework from a fire main inlet to the vertical run of the main serving a protected stair.

Section 7 may also be used to detail departures from standards made in column e) of Section 6 and to provide justification and any other departures or variations from the information already given.

Detail should be provided while bearing in mind the 500 word limit for this answer, which would place it a little shorter than this blog post.

In part twelve of this series, LWF will look at Sections 8 and 9 of the Fire Statement form.

Links to all Fire Statement blogs are as follows:

Part One – Planning Gateway One
Part Two – What are the relevant buildings?
Part Three – What detail is required?
Part Four – The application process & advice
Part Five – Preparing to fill out the form
Part Six – How to fill out the application
Part Seven – How to fill out the application
Part Eight – How to fill out the application
Part Nine – How to fill out the application
Part Ten – How to fill out the application
Part Eleven – How to fill out the application
Part Twelve – How to fill out the application
Part Thirteen – How to fill out the application
Part Fourteen – How to fill out the application
Part Fifteen – How to fill out the application

 

LWF’s blog series on Fire Statements includes information on the type of buildings affected by the changes, details on what information must be included and provides an overview of the application process and form. If you have any queries about your own project or wish to discuss this blog series, please contact LWF on freephone 0800 410 1130.

 

Lawrence Webster Forrest is a fire engineering consultancy based in Surrey with over 25 years’ experience, which provides a wide range of consultancy services to professionals involved in the design, development and construction and operation of buildings.

While care has been taken to ensure that information contained in LWF’s publications is true and correct at the time of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of this information.

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