Emergency Plan - Fylde Borough Council

Emergency Plan February 2007
8.1 Introduction
As time goes on, the emphasis will switch from response to recovery. The emergency
services will withdraw and the district or county council (dependent upon the nature of the
emergency and recovery actions required) will generally take the lead role to facilitate the
rehabilitation of the community and reconstruction and restoration of the environment. This is
known as the recovery phase. It commences when the emergency services have dealt with
the incident and there is no or little immediate threat to life. The transition from response to
recovery may occur within hours, days or even weeks of the incident. Experience, however,
has shown that the key to success lies in establishing the structure, make-up and roles of the
Recovery Group as soon as possible during the operational phase of the incident.
The recovery phase encompasses the activities necessary to restore ‘normality’ both for the
community and for those involved in the response. Organisations and communities need to
plan, manage and undertake those activities that will provide as rapid a return to normality as
possible – for both the community and the responders. The incident and its effects may create
a new “normality” raising serious issues for the local authority.
Recovery encompasses the physical, social, psychological, political and financial
consequences of an incident. This period can be labour intensive and may stretch the local
authority to extraordinary levels. Consideration of recovery should be part of day-to-day
emergency management. Anticipation of consequences and appropriate recovery planning
must start right from the beginning of the emergency response as poor recovery management
can undermine the benefit of a perceived good response.
8.2 Recovery Co-ordination Group
The Council or County Council will generally lead the recovery process after the emergency
services have left the scene. To ensure there is no duplication of effort, agencies need to be
brought together to discuss priorities for action. A multi-agency Recovery Co-ordination Group
will normally be established to identify priorities on which utilities, private companies,
voluntary agencies and the community may be represented. The Council may, however, also
establish its own internal recovery group.
There are many key issues that the co-ordination group will need to progress including: -
• Strategies for delivering normal services
• Reallocation of senior staff responsibilities
• Establishing specialist sub-groups for long term recovery
• Long term pressures on housing
• Implications of and solutions to lack of resources
• Implementing mutual aid arrangements
• Comprehensive liaison
• Focus for decisions on appeals, memorials and anniversaries
• Assistance to local businesses
8.3 Rebuilding the Community
The physical reconstruction and restoration of services needs to be managed effectively. The
authority may be under considerable pressure to restore any services interrupted as a result
of an incident. The public will accept and make allowances for a period of disruption whilst the
response is ongoing. However, public expectation will rise as time progresses and there will
be pressure to restore services to demonstrate the authority is coping, thereby, enhancing
public confidence.
8.4 Physical Reconstruction
Immediate attention will have been given to the safety and integrity of any structures affected
by the incident during the response phase. There will be many individuals, departments and
Section 8
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