Issue - meetings

Report by Maggie Rae, Corporate Director of Public Health and Public Protection.

Councillor Keith Humphries, Cabinet member for Public Health and Public         Protection presented a report on the revision of the Council’s Recovery Plan.

Cabinet was asked to approve the Plan as presented for onward recommendation for adoption by Council.

Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 Wiltshire Council was designated as a Category 1 responder. As such it was required to develop and maintain plans that were appropriate, up to date and kept in readiness for responding to incidents.

The Recovery Plan sat alongside the Major Incident Plan which was approved by Cabinet at its meeting on 24 July 2012. It provided a framework for council services to assist communities to return to a state of normality.

The Recovery Plan was designed around a set of principles which recognised that recovery was an enabling and supportive process which was best approached on a community development perspective.

In order to assist any community in the recovery following an incident it is important for that community to fully engage with the process and to some extent manage its own recovery. To this end training was being arranged for parish and town councils through Area Boards to assist them in emergency planning and community resilience. Both the Recovery Plan if approved and Major Incident Plan as already approved would be presented to Council on 13 November for adoption.

The Recovery Plan complies with the legal requirements, Government guidance and with the Wiltshire and Swindon LRF procedures and as such adoption of the revised Plan was the best option.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

a)    note the report;

b)   approves the Recovery Plan and recommends its adoption by Council, and

c)    agrees that any minor amendments to the Plan are delegated to the Corporate Director for Public Health and Public Protection in consultation with the appropriate Cabinet member.

Reason for Decision

Approval of the Recovery Plan would ensure compliance with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, and allow subsequent training and exercising on the plan to improve the council’s state of readiness and resilience in assisting communities to recover from major incidents and other significant events.