In today's environment, it is becoming increasingly necessary to prepare for emergencies and major incidents. In 2005 there were several high profile incidents, including the flooding in Carlisle in January, the London Bombings on July 7th, and the Buncefield oil depot disaster in December.  Whilst some scenarios cannot be prevented (e.g. severe weather events), contingency plans can be developed in order to mitigate the effects and outline response arrangements.  Whatever the type of incident or emergency, advance planning is vital to mitigate the impact on the community.

The Civil Contingencies Act (2004) (CCA) revises the national approach to civil protection and resilience, addressing both the roles and responsibilities of local responders with regard to emergency preparation and response, and also the power to invoke temporary emergency powers and legislation.   In respect of Local Responders, these are now divided into Category 1 and Category 2 responders.

Cat 1 Responders:

• Emergency Services
• Local Authorities
• NHS bodies
• Government Agencies

Cat 2 Responders:

• Utilities
• Transport Bodies
• Strategic Health bodies
• Health & Safety Executive

All responders are brought together locally and regionally in Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) and Regional Resilience Forums (RRFs), respectively, to discuss planning and response issues.  For more information about the CCA, visit the UK Resilience website.

Sunderland City Council is committed to ensuring that we are capable of responding to emergencies and major incidents and that our arrangements are robust and flexible enough to cope with a variety of challenges. We have a Major Incident Plan which endeavours to fulfil this role, alongside various incident specific plans to address particular arrangements for a threat, e.g. flooding. 

For further information visit the following websites:

Tyne & Wear Emergency Planning Unit website

Preparing for Emergencies website - wide variety of advice, information and publications on what to do in an emergency

Directgov newsroom site on public safety

Home Office - advice on national security

You can also visit our advice pages below:

Business Continuity Advice - how to ensure your business is more resilient against disruptive incidents; increase your ability to recover with the minimum period of discontinuity in service/trading and mitigation of impacts (financial, reputation etc).

The Local Resilience Forum has produced a register of risks that are relevant for the region, known as the Community Risk Register (CRR) ( pdf 241kb), and held on the Government Office North East's website. 

Pandemic Flu and Avian Flu (bird flu) Advice - useful links to sources of further information.

Advice on coping with a major incident or disaster - if you have been affected by a disaster, you may be looking for resources to help you cope.

Weather related emergencies - including flooding, heatwaves, and heavy snow.

If you require any of the Emergency Planning & Response Team's website information in another language or format, please contact 0191 520 5555.

last updated 28/02/07