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Emergency planning

Preparing for emergencies

Most emergencies can be dealt with by the emergency services - police, fire and rescue and ambulance.

However, some emergencies are so large, have such an impact or are so long-running that other organisations such as Rugby Borough Council need to be involved in the response; for example, widespread flooding, major transport accidents, animal health diseases and major fires.

The council's work in this area is governed by legislation - the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA). An emergency as defined by the CCA is:

"An event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK."

The CCA requires Rugby Borough Council as a Category 1 Responder to undertake seven duties. These are:

  1. Assess risk
  2. Create emergency plans
  3. Communicate with the public
  4. Co-operate with other responding organisations
  5. Share information with other agencies 
  6. Make our own business continuity arrangements 
  7. Promote business continuity to local businesses

Working with partners

Rugby Borough Council works very closely with colleagues from other local authorities.

We also work with agencies like:

  • Police
  • Fire and rescue
  • Ambulance service
  • Environment Agency
  • Health agencies

These are known as Category 1 responders.

We also work with Category 2 responders:

  • Utility companies such as National Grid, Cadent Gas & Severn Trent Water
  • Transport agencies such as National Rail, West Midlands Railway & National Express
  • Airports

We also work with:

  • The armed forces
  • Voluntary organisations
  • Representatives from various faith organisations

We work with these organisations during emergencies, but also on a day-to-day basis as part of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF).

The LRF brings together all agencies with a significant role to play in preparing for, responding to and recovering from the effects of emergencies.

Councils' role in an emergency

Rugby Borough Council's role in a major incident is to work with the emergency services and other partners to reduce the impacts and work to maintain and restore essential services.

To achieve this, Rugby Borough Council will:

  • Respond to requests from the emergency services and other partners to assist in response to major incidents
  • Co-ordinate our response with other local authorities, town and parish councils, and the voluntary sector
  • Look to mobilise our staff to carry out tasks in support of the response. Depending on the scale and type of incident, this may include:
  1. Establishing an Emergency Management Centres to co-ordinate our response
  2. Supporting the set-up of Emergency Assistance Centres and Humanitarian Assistance Centres (if required) to provide shelter, food and information to people evacuated from the vicinity of a major incident
  3. Providing advice on the temporary re-housing of people who are unable to return to their homes
  4. Providing specialist advice to the public on matters such as environmental health and structural integrity of buildings
  5. Providing information to the public and the media
  6. Assisting in cleaning up the area affected by a major incident
  • As far as possible, keep our everyday council services running despite diversions of staff and other resources to handling of the incident
  • Take a leading role in helping he community to recover and to return life to normal

Further information:

Warwickshire Local Resilience Forum: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/community-safety/warwickshire-prepared

In this section:

  1. You are here: Preparing for emergencies Preparing for emergencies
  2. You are here: Working with partners Working with partners
  3. You are here: Councils' role in an emergency Councils' role in an emergency