Civil Emergency Plan

It is intended that the Plan is flexible enough to enable the City to respond to a variety of situations. The required strengths of the response will necessitate regular updating of the component Functional Plans and other functionally orientated hazard specific plans.

The objectives of the Plan are to be achieved by:-

• Advance planning necessary to identify the impact of potential incidents
• Development of procedures and information compiled and maintained in readiness for use in the event of a major emergency; and
• Thorough comprehensive training, testing and maintenance of the Plan.

Civil emergencies will be regarded as situations which can arise with or without warning and are likely to cause death, injury, damage to property, environmental pollution or serious disruption to normal life, requiring the special mobilisation and organisation of public services.

The operation of the Plan will be activated by the declaration of the existence of a civil emergency by:-

• the local Police
• the local Fire Brigade
• the County Council's Emergency Planning Duty Officer
• the City Council's Managing Director or his Deputy
• other Districts or County Councils, the Environment Agency, an NHS Trust, the Met Office or the privatised utilities.

Upon activation of the Plan, the City Council's Coordinating Team will convene to co-ordinate and manage an appropriate response having regard to the specific conditions of the situation.

A log will be kept of all events, decisions and actions for subsequent de-briefing to monitor the effectiveness of the Plan.

When the emergency itself is over, the City Council's Recovery Team will convene. The Team will focus on the long term implications and remedial actions and will be comprised of managers of certain sections of the organisation who can lend particular specialist skills. Emergency accommodation and rest centres will be managed by the Coordinating Team.

The Coordinating Team will be responsible for close liaison with the County Emergency Planning Unit and for the maintenance of all internal and external communications during an emergency, including the co-ordination and administration of media services, meeting arrangements, information collection and dissemination, and the co-ordination of VIP visits.

Elected Members will provide community leadership and it may be appropriate for them to present the public face of the Council's response through media interviews and briefings.