Emergency plans

How would you prepare for an emergency?

The governance has launch a new emergency planning website, Prepare (opens new window). This site encourages people to think if an emergency did happen in your area, how would they manage.

Taking action in advance will make it easier to manage an emergency if it does happen. Prepare is designed for residents in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provide advice for their residents.

Five simple things you can do now:

1. Find out if you are eligible to sign up to your gas, electricity and water supplier's Priority Service Registers, so companies know that you need additional support.
2. Set a reminder in your phone or make a note on your calendar to check your smoke alarm once a month.
3. Write down important phone numbers on paper such as the number to report a power cut (105) and the numbers of anyone you might want to contact in an emergency.
4. Talk to your children about how and when to call 999 and what they should do if there's an emergency, such as a fire at home.
5. Check your long term flood risk and sign up for flood and weather warnings.

For risks specific to Sussex, view the Community Risk Register (opens new window).

Preparing for and responding to emergencies

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 issued local authorities with a responsibility to respond to civil emergencies. This responsibility also extended to certain other organisations.

Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, Chichester District Council have created plans which fulfil our responsibilities. We have worked with our partner agencies to write these plans. The Civil Contingencies Act defines an emergency as:

• an event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in the UK;
• an event or situation that threatens serious damage to the environment in the UK; or
• war or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK

Working alongside other responding agencies we:

• support the emergency (blue light) services;
• provide support and care for the wider community;
• use resources to mitigate the effects of an emergency; and
• take a leading role for recovery for local incidents

These emergency response roles and responsibilities are an extension of our normal day to day activities. These include:

• Communicating with other local authorities and organisations.
• Assisting with warning and informing the public.
• Deployment of officers to incidents. This enables an effective communications between ourselves and other responders at, or near the scene.
• Provide temporary accommodation for those made homeless due to an emergency.
• Plan for response to local risks such as coastal flooding.
• Respond to local coastal pollution incidents.
• Organise the removal of waste after an incident.
• Technical and engineering advice.
• Environmental health advice and services.
• Building Control Services e.g. structural safety advice.

Sussex Resilience Forum

We are part of a multi-agency partnership known as the Sussex Resilience Forum. This partnership coordinates the implementation of the Civil Contingencies Act in Sussex. The agencies work together to prepare and respond to emergencies. The partnership produces a local risk register that identifies potential major risks for Sussex.

Sussex Police has further information on preparing for an emergency (opens new window)