Agenda item

To submit a report by the Regional Manager of the Regional Planning and Emergency Service.

The Chair welcomed Mr Neil Culff, Regional Manager, North Wales Councils Regional Emergency Planning Service and Mr Gwyn Hughes, Emergency Planning Officer to the meeting.

The Head of Democratic Services reported that the purpose of the report is to provide an update regarding both regional priorities and Council work programme.

Mr Neil Culff, Regional Manager, gave a presentation on the North Wales Councils Regional Emergency Planning Service (NWC-REPS) setting out legislative requirements, the structure of the regional services and governance arrangements.  He said that local authorities have duties for emergency planning and response under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001, and the Pipeline Safety Regulations 1996.  The Council meets its obligations by collaborating with the other North Wales local authorities through the North Wales Councils Regional Emergency Planning Service, for which Flintshire County Council is the lead authority.  He noted that the NWC-REPS reports to an Executive Board, comprising an Officer representative of each of the North Wales local authorities that are partners to the service.  This service has been in place since 2014 and the NWC-REPS provides a primary link between the Council and North Wales Local Resilience Forum with the contributions from service staff being fundamental in multi-agency groups, events, processes and plans.  Within the Council, responsibilities for emergency planning and response are shared across services and nominated service representatives. 

The Regional Manager reported on work streams undertaken by the Emergency Planning Service :-

·      Pandemic Flu – work is undertaken across the region together with Health Service and local authorities Social Services Department as regards to preparedness arrangements for pandemic flu which is classed as ‘very high’ on the National and Community Risk Registers; 

·      Kerslake Report – the report was produced following a review of the Manchester Arena attached in May 2017 and the NWC-REPS have compiled a Gap Analysis on the recommendations that have implications for all Councils.  The NWC-REPS Learning & Development programme will include training for elected members on dealing with major incidents;

·      Community Resilience Strategy –implementing a 2017-2020 Community Resilience Strategy when dealing with local emergencies and seeking greater local resilience. Details will be reported to the Town and Community Council Forum in due course;

·      Data sharing – working closely with emergency services and local authorities to  identify vulnerable persons if incidents occur i.e. flooding situations when evacuation is needed;

·      Learning and Development – a designated Officer leads on training and exercising within the Emergency Service Team.  The role is to work closely with local authorities to identify persons who have a role within emergency response and identify training needs.

The Head of Democratic Services said that through establishing a regional arrangement for emergency planning it has been possible to increase resilience and specialist support for local authorities across North Wales.  He noted that emergency services, as a service function was part of Council Business and an internal group of Officers from each department meet on a quarterly basis to address Emergency Planning matters and information reported to the Senior Leadership Group/Penaethiaid.  The Head of Democratic Services also referred to aspects of the current work programme including business continuity plans, and that arrangements were being planned with Flintshire County Council in April 2019 to conduct a joint exercise to test plans and share good practices. Other aspects of the work undertaken were referred to namely :-

·      Threat Escalation Planning – local authority’s preparedness for responding to National Security requirements and dealing with follow up actions;

·      Exercise MônCefni – an exercise held in September 2017 with the aim of giving Council staff an opportunity to practice setting up and running a rest centre and to test elements of the Council’s ‘Rest Centre Guidance’ document.  The Regional Service is currently preparing guidance for local authorities to encourage volunteers to assist at rest centres;

·      Holyhead Marina damage (March 2018) –support was given by NWC-REPS to establish a task group in Holyhead to co-ordinate actions on a multi agency basis.

·      Wylfa Site – the Council is required to prepare an Off-Site Emergency Plan.  An ‘exercise’ was undertaken in 2016 to test arrangements and it is anticipated that another ‘exercise’ will need to be arranged in September 2019.

The NWC-REPS will be providing input to the Wylfa Newydd Construction Sub-Group which has been established to co-ordinate emergency planning issues during construction phase of the Wylfa Newydd project.

The Chair thanked the representatives from the Emergency Planning Service for his presentation.  The Committee considered the information presented and made the following points:-

·      Reference was made that this authority’s financial contribution has seen an annual reduction of 2% towards the NWC-REPS since its establishment in 2014. Questions raised as to what impact this has had on the service in general.  The Regional Manager noted that staffing structures had been revised to reduce costs and that certain costs e.g. associated with preparation of some key plans could be reclaimed; 

·      Clarification was sought as to whether the Emergency Planning Service has prepared for the possibility for a no Brexit deal and traffic congestions in the port of Holyhead.   The Head of Democratic Services responded that contingency arrangements were in place to deal with traffic management issues affecting the bridges and impact on the Port.  The Manager of the NWREPS noted that the implications for Ports was being considered on a national level.

It was RESOLVED that the Committee receives a future report as part of its Work Programme for 2019/20.

ACTION : As noted above.