Civil Contingencies
Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, we have statutory responsibilities and powers to make plans to prepare for and to respond to the effects of a major civil emergency within the District.
We also have responsibility for carrying out exercises based on such plans and for arranging for the training of an appropriate number of suitable members of staff for the purpose of discharging the functions set out by the regulations.
Our Emergency Plan has been made available, please note that any confidential information such as personal contact details have been removed from this version.
County Council Responsibilities
The County Council has the same statutory obligations as we do in terms of emergency preparedness. The County Council has an Emergency Planning Unit based at Fire and Rescue Headquarters in Lincoln dedicated to meeting the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act, most of the units efforts are directed towards preparing the county (not just the County Council) to cope with the effects of any major event occurring within its boundaries.
Risk Assessment
The Act places a risk assessment duty on all Category 1 responders. The purpose of the duty is to:-
Ensure that Category 1 responders have an accurate and shared understanding of the risks that they face so that planning has a sound foundation and is proportionate to the risks.
Provide a rational basis for the prioritisation of objectives and work programme's and the allocation of resources.
Enable Category 1 responders to assess the adequacy of their plans and capabilities, highlight existing measures that are appropriate, and allow gaps to be identified.
Facilitate joined up local planning, based on consistent planning assumptions.
Enable Category 1 responders to provide an accessible overview of the emergency planning and business continuity planning context for the public and officials.
Inform and reflect regional and national risk assessments that support emergency planning and capability development at those levels.
Emergency Planning
Our role in an emergency is to:-
To respond to emergencies within the district boundary in conjunction with others as appropriate.
To arrange for the re-housing of those made homeless by an emergency.
To provide aid to neighbouring district/ borough councils when requested.
To restore services affected by the emergency for which the council is usually responsible.
How we do this
We liaise with the County Councils Emergency Planning Unit and the emergency services to ensure an integrated multi agency response to an emergency situation.
We plan to ensure that the people and environment of East Lindsey are protected and that normality is restored to the community as quickly as possible.
We exercise our plans to ensure a prompt, coordinated and adequate response to an incident.
Warning and Informing
All Category 1 responders have a duty to keep the community aware of emergency planning work before during and after a major emergency. This is done through a variety of methods including local media, website based information and local events.