Emergency Planning

The borough of Ribble Valley is a safe place to live, work and visit. However, it is important to recognise that major emergencies can occur at any time. Examples of major emergencies can include severe flooding, an industrial incident such as a factory fire, a loss of one of the utilities such as gas, electricity or water, or an act of terrorism.

Ribble Valley Borough Council work in partnership with Lancashire County Council and other emergency responders and carry out regular exercises to ensure that we are prepared for dealing with emergency situations. 

It is important that everyone prepares for an emergency, from individual households to local businesses. To help prepare yourself for emergency scenarios, the Lancashire Resilience Forum have created the downloadable attached document  ‘Preparing for Emergencies in Lancashire’.

The government have also created an emergency planning webpage to increase public preparedness for emergencies by providing simple and effective advice, this can be accessed via the following link: https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/

Civil Contingencies Act 2004

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 has transformed the face of all emergency response organisations. The highly visible Emergency Responders such as the Police, Fire and Ambulance Service are called Category 1 responders and they usually deal with an incident from the outset. However, they are also supported in the immediate and longer-term by a whole host of other agencies in the public, private and voluntary sector. These other agencies are known either as Category 1 or 2 Responders and include:

• The Police, Ambulance, Fire and Rescue a services
• Lancashire County Council
• Environment Agency
• NHS organisations
• electricity, gas and water utility supply companies
• telecoms companies.

Ribble Valley Borough Council is classed as a Category 1 responder.

It is crucial that category 1 and 2 responders have a planned response and that the plans are co-coordinated to avoid confusion in the immediate aftermath of an incident. Whilst the police will normally take the lead in co-coordinating the response to incidents, Ribble Valley Borough Council are likely to play a significant role in the response and recovery phase of a major emergency. A recovery period can be as short as a few days or in severe events can last for many months.