Back to News Archive

Emergency Planning Unit, Chief Executive’s Office

Chelmsford Borough Council

Emergency Planning – what does it mean?

In recent years there have been a number of incidents throughout the United Kingdom including severe flooding, major fire and severe weather conditions all of which have meant that local authorities have had to provide shelter, food and in some cases alternative accommodation for members of the communities affected.  In all cases, help has been relatively easy to provide because the local authority has emergency plans already in place to deal with such situations. Chelmsford Borough Council is leading the way in preparing for dealing with emergencies and continues to develop strategies that will help communities in the event of a crisis.

The introduction of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 has meant a number of fundamental changes in the way that Local Authorities deal with Emergency Planning issues. The Act has moved the emphasis of civil protection from being one of just planning and responding to emergencies towards resilience planning arrangements (which also includes response arrangements) and  in doing so has placed a range of new emergency planning duties on Local Authorities.

As direct result of the introduction of this act, new government funding has enabled the Council to develop its incident response resources which include the refurbishment of the District Emergency Response Centre and the provision of a Mobile Incident Control Vehicle in support of the need to achieve 100% resilience.

To ensure the most efficient deployment of resources, a working arrangement has also been developed with Maldon District Council to provide a Joint Emergency Planning Unit.

As part of our strategy we have produced a number of booklets including guides to Business Continuity Planning and Developing a Community Safety Plan both of which can be viewed on our website www.chelmsfordresilience.info

Effective planning relies heavily on volunteers from both the Council’s staff and the local community to man predesignated Rest Centres within each community.  We intend to continue to harness the enthusiasm and local knowledge of volunteers within Parishes by developing a Community Safety Plan thus helping each community help themselves.

We are encouraging Parish Councils to take the lead in this in line with Chelmsford Borough Council’s strategy to continue to provide advice, guidance and training.

April 2006