Issue - meetings

The Shadow Authority is required to prepare, approve and publish certain emergency and civil contingency plans before Vesting Day.

On the 8th October 2019, the Shadow Executive agreed the Civil Contingencies Policy which defined the overall approach and direction of travel for dealing with emergency planning and business continuity.

This report relates to the production of the Buckinghamshire Council Emergency Plan and defines the main responsibilities and roles for the response at the local level.

RESOLVED:

That the Emergency Plan for Buckinghamshire Council is considered and agreed.

K Wood introduced the report which set out the Emergency Plan for the new Buckinghamshire Council to be considered and agreed, which was a requirement to be published prior to vesting day and followed the agreement of the Civil Contingencies Policy by the Executive in October.  The plan remained consistent with national guidance and the multi-agency plans of the Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum (TVLRF) and other organisations.

Members of the Executive raised and discussed the following points:

• Members would be expected to provide strategic direction and to make urgent decisions and provide communication, therefore bespoke training would be provided that would also include a live exercise.
• It was highlighted that with 147 members in the new council, providing the right training for the different member roles was important e.g. local member (to understand local issues i.e. flood areas), Cabinet Member and back bencher.  It was also mentioned that some members may have specific skills that could be utilised as part of the role in an emergency.  More detailed discussions of approach and risks would be an important part of the member induction process.
• Conversations had taken place with some parish councils about their own emergency plans and the support available to them to produce these.  Officers confirmed that they wanted to engage with those parish councils to give them support and to also ensure their emergency plans were in line with the Buckinghamshire Council one.  The agreed emergency plan would be shared with town and parish councils.  It was suggested that this could also be communicated via the new community boards.
• There needed to be clarity in the roles between Leader and Deputy Leader and if the Deputy Leader was to take action only if the Leader was unavailable.  This would be made clearer in the plan.

RESOLVED:

That the Emergency Plan for Buckinghamshire Council is considered and agreed.