PA RISH E MERGENC Y PLAN Adopted 3 December 2020 Date of revision Comments 1 INDEX Section 1 Emergency Arrangements Section 2 Emergency Coordinator Section 3 Volunteers Section 4 Council and Emergency Services Section 5 Advice for Emergency Situations Section 6 Parish Tem porary Accommoda tion Section 7 Services, Voluntary Groups, Media Section 8 Parish Councillors Section 9 District & County Councillors, Member of Parliament Section 10 Health & Safe ty Guidan ce Section 11 Local Map 2 Section 1 - EMER GENCY ARRANG EM ENTS M ajor Emergency The definition of a ‘Major Incident’ or ‘Major Emergency’ as supplied by CDC (CDC) is, “an incident endangering or likely to endanger life and property that to deal wit h would b e beyond the scope and facilities of normal da y to day operation al capabilities of those services responding”. Such incidents can occur anywhere at any time and often without warning. Response In normal circumstances the response to a major emer gency wou ld come from the inter - agency arrangements for malised between th e Emergency Services and C DC . Sussex Police would probably take the initial lead in co - ordinating the operation. In these circumstances the role of the Parish Council at a major emer gency aff ecting the Parish woul d be to assist the Emergency Services and CDC when requested by providing local knowledge and resources including organising local volunteers. Operations would come under the direction of the Police or District Council. It is theref or e important that this Parish Emergency Plan, a copy of which wil l be lodged with C DC , fits with the inter - agency arrangements. Self Help Response There may be unusual circumstances, for example, widespread travel disruption from severe weather, majo r pow er failure or serious communication breakdown when an immediate response from the Emergency Services or District Council cannot be provided. This Parish is located south - west of the City of Chichester, but in the event of widespread problems might expect a delayed respon se whilst incidents elsewhere requiring higher Co unty or District priority are undertaken. In these circumstances our own community will need to undertake self - help activities and the Parish Council together with local volunteers wi ll take w hatever initial steps are possible to respond to the emergency. Purpose The Parish of Chidham and Hambrook is situated a bout five miles west of Chichester and is bordered on the south by water, the other t hree sides by agricultural land. The Pari sh is bor dered in the north by a major rail line and a motorway (A/ M27) a nd bisected by a main road (A259). These run from east to west. Health & Safety W hen making a self - help response, matters such as individual safety and Health & Safety requirements need to b e considered. The requirements for risk assessmen ts mu st be addr essed and reference should be made to the guidance issued by CDC , which is reproduced in Section 10 of this Plan. Data Protection This Parish Emergency Plan contains p ersonal data an d is ther efore s ubject to Data Protection Legislation. It is no t necessar y to notify the Information Commissioner as the data is being processed on behalf of CDC ’s emergency plan. The personal details noted within thi s Plan have been obtained from publicly availabl e local publications where the individuals concer ned h ave allowe d their details to be used in the contexts shown. Personal details of other persons, such as local volunteers will be collated into a separate a ppendix as and when permissions are obt ained in line with the data protection rules. Local Proce dure Notificati on of a major emergency, requests for assistance and all relevant information should be directed to the Emergency Co - ordinator or in his absence the Deputy Co - ordinator. The under me ntioned f our persons hold copies of the Emergency Plan. 3 Emer gency Co - o rdinator C llr Geoffrey Hyde Deputy Co - ordinator Cl lr R Gowlett Chairman of Parish Council Cllr Philip MacDougall Tel: 01243 573782 Parish C lerk Bambi Jone s Tel: 079 86 395253 For details of the other Pa rish Coun cillors see Section 8. Section 2 - E MERGENCY CO - ORDI NATOR OR D EPUTY Function The funct ion of the Emergency Co - ordinator or the Dep uty Co - ordinator is to action requests from the Emergency Services or Dis trict Council. They will become the link between t he District Council and the Parish response. In sel f - hel p circum stances they will assess the situation and co - ordinate the local voluntar y response. Initial action should include verifying the source of informa tion relating to the emergency and ca lling out volunteer assistance or resources that are immediate ly re quired . Logbook The Co - ordinator s hould ensure that all decisions and actions are timed and recorded in a logbook. The maintenance of a logbook is esse ntial to detail the response and to p rovide up dates when required. It will a lso provide evidence for any subse quent debrief or inquiry. Ent ries should be clear, accurate, concise and written in ink. The results of actions taken by other individuals should be reported to the Co - ordinator to pr ovide a f ull picture and enable the rec ord to be maintained in the logboo k. The Co - ordinator should enlist suitable volunteers so they can devote time to assessment and strategic planning. Early Action Early action should be to establish a command post f r om which to operate and to nomina te a suitable rendezvous point where vol untee rs can report for logging, skills identification, briefing and deployment . Communication Communication is an important aspe ct of the response. Consideration should be given to p roviding regular updates on the P arish Council web site / Facebook page and Whats App groups and the nomination of a telephone number for use as an information help line. An amateur, two - w ay radio net h as only limited nodes within the Parish. Landline telep hones cou ld be affected by severe w eather and mobile networks can fai l if overloaded. If it becomes necessary to r esort to word of mouth communication the Parish has a number of groups an d clubs that c ould be used to cascade information among their members . (See Lo cal Groups in Section 7) Inter - Agency If the Emergency Serv ices or District Council have requested speci fic assistance, it is important that the Co - ordinator ensures they are ke pt informed of actions and results so as accurate a picture as possib le is mai ntained. In a widespread emergency situation the District C ounc il may be so committed to being ‘reactive ’ that it may not have time or staff to be ‘proactive’ in phoning Parishe s to ascertain the up to date situation. It is therefore important to keep the District Council apprised of the current situation. Even wh ere the District Council is stretched it may still be able to allocate resources for self - help activity in the Parish. 4 Stand Down W hen the incident is declared over the Emergency Co - ordi nator sho uld ensure that all local volunteers are made aware and assi st i n returning the Parish to normality. He s hould arrange for any local volunteers to be debriefed and appropriate co mments noted a s part of a final report. He should also, where appropr iate repr esent the Parish Council a t any District Council debrief. F inan ce The Chairman of the Parish Council and the Chairman of the Parish Council Finance Committee will jointly have t he power to ap prove spending in times of extreme emergency. Section 3 - V OLU NTEE RS Volunteers There a re two main categories of volunteers. Established organisations such as St John Ambulance, British Red Cross, WRVS and the like have inter - agency arran gements agreed with the Emergency Servic es for times of major emergenc ies. The othe r source of volunteers is local people who offer help in tim e of crisis. If the Emergency Services and District Council are dealing with the emergency any local volunteers c an be organised by the Parish Council bu t will work under the directio n of the Coun cil or Emergency Servi ces. Normally it is the District Counc il that would co - ordinate roles for volunteers. The purpose of this plan is to provide guidance in circumstances where the Emerg ency Services and Distric t Council are unable to respon d immedia tely to a crisis in the Pa rish of Chidham and Hambrook . Whatever is undertaken it is important to inform all those involved when the emergency is over. Self - help Response Withi n the Parish th ere is undoubtedly a range of skills a vailable, which c ould prov e ex tremely useful in time of crisis. Some people have indicated their willingness to assist and their details are recorded as an appendix to this plan. However it is likely tha t many more wil l volunteer if a serious emergency sho uld arise. If at all possi ble, such a response shoul d be co - ordinated in an orderly manner and one of the initial tasks for the Emergency Co - ordinator is to arrange for the setting up and staffing of a R endezvous Point (RV Point) to which volunteers can be directed. The RV point sh ould be at a suitable loca tion away from the scene(s) of the inc ident.