Agenda item

(1)          Mr Tony Harwood (KCC Resilience and Emergency Planning Manager) and Ms Lisa Guthrie (KCC Kent Resilience Team Manager) gave a joint presentation.  The accompanying slides are contained within the electronic papers on the KCC website.

(2)          Mr Harwood began his part of the presentation by saying that his role within Emergency Planning related to ensuring the County Council’s legal and regulatory compliance with emergency planning and response duties and optimising the resilience of KCC services.  The Strategic HQ Emergency Planning Team that he managed was small but dedicated.  It planned for and responded to a wide range of threats and incidents. 

(3)          Mr Harwood explained that the overarching legislation to which his Team worked was the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which placed a duty on the Local Authority and other partners to put in place appropriate Emergency Plans and to undertake business continuity planning for both the Authority itself as well as supporting the resilience of the private and voluntary sectors. This legislation included warning and informing the general public.  A significant element of the Team’s role involved day-to-day activities in response to emergencies. 

(4)          Mr Harwood then showed a slide showing a breakdown of the type of calls registered on the Duty Emergency Planning Officer logging system.   This showed that the largest portion of calls received related to coastal and fluvial flooding events. It also showed a whole range of responses to events such as electricity outages, pollution incidents and road traffic incidents.  Some 215 Alerts had been received since 1 April 2019.   This equated to roughly 1 alert each day. 

(5)          Kent’s emergency planning profile was partly dictated by the County’s geographical location.  Kent could be described as a “Front Line County” strongly influenced by its proximity to continental Europe as exemplified by its vulnerability to major events such as those experienced during the 2^nd World War, the Herald of Free Enterprise tragedy and latterly EU withdrawal planning.  The Herald of Free Enterprise had capsized in Belgian waters in March 1987, but its impact on the County’s communities, particularly in East Kent had been of such magnitude that an IT tracking database had needed to be built up from scratch and a dedicated KCC established in order to respond to the event in all its traumatic complexity. 

(6)          Mr Harwood said that effective planning for emergencies was crucial.  These plans were living documents, needing to be refined and updated in the light of a rapidly changing world and experience.  Some 14 KCC emergency plans were currently in operation. Most of these were generic, whilst others (such as the plans for major accident hazards, gas pipelines, major industrial sites and for radiation incidents) were specific and highly detailed.  The generic emergency plans contained a command and control model which could be implemented no matter what the nature of the event that was being responded to.

(7)          Mr Harwood continued by saying that business continuity planning was another essential aspect of his team’s work.  Business continuity plans played a vital role in ensuring that businesses and services were able to continue to operate in the event of disruption.  Failure to plan effectively would have a significant detrimental impact on the community.  KCC operated 172 service specific business continuity plans.  All of them were kept fully up to date by using a model template and monitoring system that was refined whenever circumstances changed. 

(8)           Mr Harwood then said that KCC’s own command and control model operated along similar lines to that of key partners and the Kent Resilience Forum, ensuring that the Authority’s own ability to respond was uncompromised and could dovetail with partners.  One of the roles of KCC’s command and control system was to prevent the County Council from straying beyond those areas of response that were its responsibility.

(9)          Mr Harwood said that the County Emergency Centre was available 24 hours each day.   It operated a weekly command rota.

(10)       All levels of response had to be considered.  The strategic policy making role was covered by the Duty Director.  Whenever an event occurred, the Duty Emergency Planning Officer would establish contact with the Duty Director in order that strategic oversight was in place and that elected Members were informed as appropriate.   On-call Tactical Managers (drawn from KCC’s middle management) fulfilled a generic role, utilising their specialist competencies.  The operational level was fulfilled by the on-call Emergency Response Team, consisting of administrators, IT specialists and operational responders.   The Emergency Response Teams also participated in regular exercises and training events.

(11)        Mr Harwood concluded by explaining the role of the on-call Recovery Director whose role in County-wide or multi-District events was to lead multi-agency work to help communities, families and individuals re-establish their lives in the aftermath of an emergency.  

(12)       Ms Guthrie’s part of the presentation concentrated on the Kent Resilience Team, which KCC was fully committed to.  It had been set up in 2014 and consisted of Emergency Planning Officers from KCC, Kent Fire and Rescue and Kent Police. Its Interim Head was Mr Matthew Deadman from Kent Fire and Rescue as Ms Fiona Gaffney had been seconded to fill the Full Time Kent Brexit Co-ordinator role until the end of January 2020.  There were three managers, one from each of the three main partners.  Membership of the Team also included some multi-agency funded posts. 

(13)     The decision to form the Kent Resilience Team had been taken in 2014 in order to extend the work of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP) in the co-ordination of planning, training and response.  The Kent Resilience Team was able to pool agencies together and co-locate them, bringing about better co-ordination and communication and thereby facilitate improved response activity.   

(14)     Ms Guthrie said that the Kent Resilience Team was based at Kent Fire and rescue HQ at The Godlands in Tovil. It had several levels of governance, including a Governance Board, a Steering Group, an Executive Board and a Delivery Board.  KCC’s representatives on these Boards were Mr P M Hill (Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services), Mr Mike Overbeke (Head of Public Protection), Mrs Barbara Cooper (Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport), Ms Fiona Gaffney and Ms Lisa Guthrie respectively.  

(15)     Ms Guthrie said that her Section within the Kent Resilience Team consisted of KCC Resilience Officers who were funded through a Service Delivery Agreement between KCC and 9 of the Districts.   They worked closely with these Districts, carrying out their risk assessments, preparing their emergency plans and providing training. 

(16)     The resilience officers also organised local exercises, an example of which was a flooding scenario named Operation Saracen which had taken place in Aylesford during June.   It had involved Flood Wardens and Local Councillors and had highlighted both the risk of flooding to the Village and the importance of its Flood Wardens. 

(17)     The Kent Resilience Team was also working through the Local Flood Plan templates with the District Authorities in the light of recent national changes produced by DEFRA.   They were also working with the Parish Councils on their own local Emergency and Flood Plans. 

(18)     Ms Guthrie said that her role also involved linking with the quarterly meetings of the Local Authority Emergency Planning Group which consisted of the local District emergency planning officers.  This facilitated the key factor of uniformity of approach whilst also enabling the officers to become familiar with one another. She added that the importance of being able to ask “how are you?” instead of “who are you?”  should not be underestimated.

(19)     The Kent Resilience Team also linked to the South East Seven, who were the other Local Resilience Forums in the South East area.  The value of this was to be measured through the development of relationships and the sharing of best practice.  In practical terms, it also facilitated mutual aid and cross-border working with other counties such as West Sussex as well as Medway.

(20)     The Kent Resilience Team also delivered a training programme to all Category 1 and 2 Responders.  The latter included the Kent Voluntary Sector. Ms Guthrie said that the Kent Resilience Team worked closely with the Kent Voluntary Sector Emergency Group, which included organisations such as South East 4x4, the Salvation Army and the British Red Cross.  

(21)     Ms Guthrie said that all KCC resilience officers (whether part of the Kent Resilience Team or KCC itself) were Duty Emergency Officers who were on-call at all times.  Their task was to receive the Alert and share the information both within KCC and externally. They acted as the first port of call for Blue Light emergencies, passing the data on to the appropriate authority and co-ordinating the response. They acted as advisers to the KCC Duty and Recovery Directors, represented KCC within multi-agency command and control structures, supported welfare centre operations and the Local Authority Co-ordinating Group Operations and Emergency Centres.

(22)     Ms Guthrie then explained that each District Council had its own Emergency Centre. These were set up to be identical to the County Emergency Centre and each other.  This meant that any Officer from any Authority would be familiar immediately with the surroundings.

(23)     Duty Officers could also be Chairs of the Severe Weather Advisory Groups (SWAGs).   These would often be set up in advance if Warnings were received from the Met Office or the EA.   SWAGs would commence the strategic planning for the coming event by considering its likely impact and the resources available for the response.  Depending on the circumstances, the SWAGs could then become a more formal Tactical Co-ordination Group led by a Silver Commander. 

(24)     Ms Guthrie then said that her section within the Kent Resilience Team worked closely with the KCC Resilience Team. Their Business Plans were linked, and they provided planning, training and exercising whilst also reviewing plans for lessons to be learned following major national and local events or following changes in national statutory guidance. 

(25)     Ms Guthrie went on to say that the Kent Resilience Team set up task and finish groups to address policy and practice matters. She explained that flooding had an impact or influence on many of the risks that were planned for.  She gave examples such as pandemics, loss of utilities and structural collapse.  

(26)     Ms Guthrie turned to the issue of winter preparations.  The Kent Resilience Team undertook an annual review of the resources available in the Districts and the Voluntary Sector including 4 x 4s, bedding and blanket stocks.  They also organised Winter Preparedness Workshops involving the EA, the Met Office, KCC Highways, KCC Social Care, the NHS and the Voluntary Sector to focus on roles and expectations. 

(27)     Ms Guthrie continued by setting out priorities for future Winter Preparedness work. There would be a strong focus on community resilience. The What If? Community Resilience Programme in West Sussex was an example of best practice in this area in that it involved contributions at every level of the community, engaging with people from a very early age.  The role of flood wardens would be expanded.  National guidance had been developed since the Grenfell Tower disaster and would inform the process of recruiting spontaneous volunteers.   Reservoir planning was being developed with the Districts, particularly with Ashford BC.

(28)     Ms Guthrie concluded by saying that although the Kent Resilience Team was multi-agency in composition, KCC’s priorities were very well represented and progressed within the Kent Resilience Team.

(29)      Mr Rayner asked about arrangements with Medway Council in respect of the wreck of the SS Montgomery which had sunk off the coast of Sheerness in 1944 and was full of high explosives and ammunition. He asked the same question in respect of the potential risk of an explosion at the Gas Import Terminal on the Isle of Grain.

(30)     Ms Guthrie confirmed that Kent and Medway worked closely together.  She explained that the Isle of Grain Terminal was the responsibility of Medway Council under the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations. A specific evacuation plan had been developed for the Isle of Grain in the event of an explosion or other emergency.  

(31)     Mr Deadman informed the Committee that the SS Montgomery was a hazard which came under the jurisdiction of the Receiver of Wreck.  She was currently reviewing the risk posed by the SS Montgomery.  Once this review had been completed, the Kent Resilience Team would carry out its own review of its ability to respond if an event affecting the County were to occur.

(32)     Mr Vickery-Jones said that Canterbury CC had received an application for the construction of a Hydrogen Production Plant in Herne Bay.  He asked whether the Kent Resilience Team’s role was to give an opinion on the safety before, during or after the planning process.  Mr Harwood replied that the KCC Resilience and Emergency Planning Team had the role of commenting on spatial plans and large applications, which included the application described.  KCC Emergency Planning received a regular list of District and County planning applications and it was an onerous but necessary task to identify those which required them to comment as appropriate. It was far preferable to ensure that risks to safety were identified early during the planning process rather than at a later stage. 

 (33)    RESOLVED that Mr Tony Harwood and Ms Lisa Guthrie be thanked for their presentations and that their content be noted.