BOROUGH OF POOLE

EMERGENCY COMMITTEE

12TH APRIL 2006

The meeting commenced at 7pm and concluded at 8.20pm

Present:

Councillor Gillard (Vice-Chairman in the Chair)

Councillors Belcham (substituting for Councillor Ms Atkinson), Clements, Rampton and Miss Wilson

Members of the public present:0

1APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ms Atkinson and Montrose.

2DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None.

3MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19th January 2006 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman agreed that the items be dealt with in the following order.

4REVIEW OF CIVIL CONTINGENCY ARRANGEMENTS

The Committee were asked to consider and respond to the independent review of the Council’s Contingency Arrangements carried out by Invergarvan Ltd, together with the Action Plan compiled by the Head of Housing and Community Services and set out in the Report at Appendix ‘B’ to Item 7.

The Review had been commissioned by the Committee at its meeting on 19th January 2006 (Minute 5 refers) and was undertaken by Tom Griffen, ex-Chief Executive of Suffolk County Council and advisor to the Local Government Association (LGA) on Emergency Planning.

The Review consisted of interviews with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Committee and relevant Officers. The Council’s Plans and the Bournemouth and Poole Resilience Group website were also reviewed. The Review found that recent responses to emergency situations had been credible but could be improved.

The headline results of the Review were summarised as follows:-

  • The Borough of Poole had made reasonable progress in meeting its new duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.
  • Specifically, working with its partners, it had put in place an initial Community Risk Register.
  • Inadequate progress had, however, been made in Business Continuity Planning.
  • In recent months, the Borough had been unlucky in having to face a number of major incidents (e.g. a prolonged armed siege; a fire which led to a serious power blackout), which had tested the Borough’s capacity and capability to respond.
  • The Borough was fortunate to have a loyal, committed and relatively stable workforce.
  • These factors had been of assistance to the Borough in delivering a credible response to these incidents, but there were concerns at both Member and Officer level that that response could have been better.
  • There was an absence of strategic leadership of the Emergency Planning function. This was reflected in ambiguity about the role of the Emergency Committee and a lack of commitment to Emergency Planning by Service Units.
  • Poole had a devolved structure, with significant autonomy delegated to a large number of Service Units. In such a structure, clear direction and control was required if key corporate objectives were to be achieved and if those objectives were to be “owned” by the Service Units. These characteristics were not sufficiently present in the case of Emergency Planning.
  • As a consequence, whilst a framework for responding existed in the form of the Incident Plan, this may not fully be underpinned by the readiness of Service Units to respond.
  • Command and Control arrangements for responding to emergencies were potentially inadequate to meet the demands of a complex emergency.
  • There was ambiguity surrounding the role and priorities of the Emergency Planning Officer.
  • There was a need to ensure that staff likely to be involved in responding to an emergency were adequately trained and exercised.
  • There were concerns about the way in which media issues were handled.

  • Poole Borough Council could only devote limited resources to Civil Contingencies Planning, but there was scope for these resources to be augmented, and for some of the above issues to be addressed, through joint working/partnerships with neighbouring authorities.

Members commented as follows:-

-The Plan was welcomed. There was much to do and the Council should set out to do it.

-The Council did not give enough profile to Emergency Planning.

-Ward Councillors had a role to play on ‘their own patch’.

-Concern about emergency power arrangements.

-Concern about business continuity planning. Would like to see business continuity embedded in Business Plans. Degree of concern about planning across the board.

- Poole’s limited Resources. Would like to see a costed Action Plan so that a bid could be put for more funding.

-Could Civil contingencies and an emergency be coped with at the same time?

-The Emergency Planning Officer should be re-located back to the Civic Centre.

-Media training needed to be picked up. Member training required.

-Role of the Emergency Planning Officer?

-Contracts outside the Borough of Poole. The Strategic Director said Leisure Centres were being addressed. Attention should be drawn to the issues through business planning.

-Each Service Unit to have a Plan with overall priorities.

-Keep Action Plan live all the times. Review Plan after each emergency. Make sure Service Unit Heads understand the seriousness of Emergency Planning.

-Role of Members. Contacting all Members was hit and miss. Agreement that Chairman and Vice-Chairman and Ward Councillors be on the interim list of contacts until the Plan was reviewed in September 2006.

RESOLVED that

(i)the Report by Invergarvan Ltd reviewing the Council’s Civil Contingency set out in Appendix A to Item 7 be noted; and

(ii)the Cabinet be recommended to adopt the Action Plan set out in Appendix B to Item 7, combined with the Action Plan set out in Appendix A to the Report on the Nelson Stanley Scrapyard Power Outage (Minute 5 refers).

5.NELSON STANLEY SCRAPYARD POWER OUTAGE – 15TH NOVEMBER 2006

This matter had been discussed in detail at the previous meeting on 19th January 2006 where it had been resolved that, in the light of the suggestions made by the Strategic Director, a further report, together with a detailed Action Plan be submitted to a future meeting (Minute 4 refers).

The Committee considered the Report of the Emergency Planning Officer and the Action Plan prepared by the Head of Housing and Community Services set out as Appendix A to the Report.

The multi-agency debrief to review this incident had taken place on Friday, 20th January and involved ten agencies including the Borough of Poole. The debrief came to ten primary conclusions and produced eight action points.

It was noted that the Action Plan set out the specific recommendations in relation to the Council. There was some overlap with the review of the Council’s Civil Contingency Arrangements.

The Head of Housing and Community Services indicated that the eight action points had been condensed into the Action Plan set out as Appendix A to the Report.

RESOLVED that the Action Plan be approved and combined with the Plan appended to the Report on the Review of Civil Contingencies (Minute 4 refers).

6.GOOD ROAD – FIRE, EXPLOSIONS AND EVACUATION – 22ND JANUARY 2006

The Report of the Emergency Planning Officer advised the Committee of this incident which had occurred at Good Road, Newtown on 22nd January 2006 and the subsequent follow-up action.

The detailed incident log had already been forwarded to Members of the Committee but the key elements were:-

1)The Duty Emergency Officer had been advised at 03:34 hours on 22nd January 2006.

2)At that time a major fire was in progress in the workshop area of a private dwelling. Following one or more explosions it had become known that there were a number of cylinders on site containing oxygen and acetylene.

3)Acetylene cylinders were a particular danger in a fire because the contents continued to decompose even when the source heat had been extinguished and presented an on-going explosion/projectile risk for up to 24 hours.

The Fire Service procedure was to set up unmanned ‘monitor’ hoses to maintain water jets onto the cylinders for 24 hours and close roads and evacuate residents from a 200m zone around the incident for the same period. Road closures had already been put in place by Dorset Police and 60 residents had been moved to Poole Police Station.

The Council supported the evacuation and the evacuees were moved to the Ashdown Leisure Centre.

Social Services support had been requested and key Officers including the Chief Executive had been called and advised as per the laid down procedure. The Health Protection Agency had been alerted that this was a chemical incident, together with the Poole Primary Care Trust who subsequently provided a medical team at the Centre. The Head of Housing and Community Services had also been advised of the incident due to the potential need for alternative accommodation.

It was found that the cylinders that had exploded in the fire included all the acetylene cylinders on site so that there was no need for a prolonged evacuation. The cordon had been lifted at 09:35 hours when the Fire and Rescue Service had confirmed this and residents were free to return home.

A Member expressed the view that there had been inadequate help on site and the Police had stepped in to help with evacuees until the Ashdown Community Centre had been made ready. Although only 60 homes had been evacuated these overlapped into two Wards. The Member considered that all Ward Members should have been advised of the incident. The Member further indicated that no Social Services staff had been at the Ashdown Community Centre and that tea and coffee had been supplied by the WRVS. The contribution made by the staff at the Ashdown Community Centre was praised.

A Member concurred with these comments and said that 5 rest centres within the Borough were not enough and that this figure should be reviewed.

The Head of Housing and Community Services agreed to consider the possibility.

RESOLVED that the Report be noted.

7.FEEDBACK FROM MEMBER TRAINING ON EMERGENCY PLANNING – EASINGWOLD 13TH AND 14TH FEBRUARY 2006

RESOLVED that discussion be deferred to the next meeting.

8.ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE TO BUSINESS AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS

The Head of Housing and Community Services presented his Report advising Members of the final duty of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which was the requirement to provide advice and assistance to business and voluntary organisations which would come into force in May 2006.

The Act required local authorities to provide advice and assistance to those undertaking commercial activities and to voluntary organisations in relation to Business Continuity Management (BCM). Only generic advice must be provided and promoted to the wider community.

Ways to deliver generic advice and assistance could be by websites, advertorials and mailings. Other means that could be considered were seminars/ events and facilitating and hosting specific BCM events.

The principal option of providing information via the web had been adopted and developed. As such, the Bournemouth and Poole Resilience Group (BPRG) Web Portal had an advice section for businesses in the public domain containing:-

  • BCP advice from London Prepared and the Business Community Forum.
  • Advice relating to influenza pandemic business continuity preparations from the Cabinet Officer and the HSE.
  • Information security advice from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
  • Advice from the Security Services for dealing with bomb threats.
  • Crime prevention advice from the Dorset Police.
  • Associated links and publications.

To support BCP arrangements the Web Portal combined a subscription service to an E-alert facility whereby incident alerts and information were sent out by Dorset Police via e-mail.

With regard to future actions, consideration was being given to conducting an annual seminar as a joint venture with Bournemouth Borough Council and BCP practitioners and members of the business community across the conurbation.

Members suggested that Poole News would be a useful way of drawing this facility to small business. It was also suggested that small businesses should be able to contact Customer First in this respect.

It was agreed that there was a need to alert the business community as well as having a web site. It was necessary to make the web link as easy to use as possible and use all avenues to make access known.

RESOLVED that the Head of Housing and Community Services be requested to consider the aforementioned suggestions and report to the next meeting.

9.PREPARING FOR A POSSIBLE INFLUENZA PANDEMIC

The Report by the Head of Housing and Community Services outlined the background and measures that were being put in place, primarily by Health Authorities, to respond to a possible influenza pandemic, set out the latest guidance from the Cabinet Office aimed at Category 1 and 2 responders as well as the wider community, and advised on planning assumptions and checklists to enable the Council to establish business continuity arrangements in place, should a pandemic occur.

The Report covered how a pandemic would be caused, that the response to an influenza pandemic would be Health Service led, measures currently in place, the World Health Organisations (WHO) four levels of alert, current Cabinet Guidance, identifying such areas as:-

(a)Business Community Planning; and

(b)Co-ordinated Multi-Agency Planning delivered primarily via local resilience forums. Also covered was Business Continuity during a pandemic (planning assumptions) action checklist for continuity planning.

In conclusion the Report stated that:-

(1)The Government viewed a possible influenza pandemic as a (current) high risk to the UK.

(2)The response to an influenza pandemic would be Health Service led with Primary Care Trusts (PCT’s) as the local lead agencies, and as such draft PCT response plans had been produced.

(3)Recent Cabinet Office guidance had called for responders and the wider business community to have in place business continuity arrangements to ensure their critical services continued to be delivered during a pandemic. The guidance also called for Category 1 responders to have in place a multi-agency arrangement via local resilience forums to address the wider impacts of a pandemic.

RESOLVED that the Report be noted.

CHAIRMAN

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