Agenda item

The Resilience Manager (RM) introduced this item. She said that she wanted to emphasise the work of the Flood Wardens who had been providing excellent support to the Council, in a volunteer capacity. She drew the following key issues to the committee’s attention:

-       The Norfolk Resilience Forum (NRF) – The Council paid an annual subscription to this body and it was important that this continued as the Council worked closely with the partner agencies involved. It was likely that the subscription would increase in future years but the figure was not yet know.

-       Risk Assessments – there had been several changes to the National Risk Register in August 2023 and the changes to the assessment methodology had increased the time now taken to assess each risk.

-       Mutual Aid Agreement – this had been revised in January 2023 and the new document set out arrangements for the provision of mutual aid during an emergency. All Local Authorities could now come together and assist each other when required.

-       Severe weather and flooding – The RM that the main challenge at the moment was flooding and a lot of her work in recent months had been dealing with flood related issues.  Work was ongoing on looking at long-term solutions to chronic flooding.

-       Flood defences at Potter Heigham – following the installation of replacement flood boards, the volunteer flood wardens at Potter Heigham had been providing updates on the extent of flooding and managing the flood boards on a daily basis. She said that their work and support had been invaluable, as had all of the flood wardens along the coast.

-       North Norfolk Safety Advisory Group – the removal of the Events Planning team at Norfolk Constabulary had led to a review of how events were managed across Norfolk, to ensure minimal disruption for the public attending.

The Chairman said that he would like to formally thank the flood wardens for

their hard work and support. He then thanked the RM for her hard work too.

The Chairman asked about the subscription cost for membership of the NRF and if there was any indication at all about the likely increase. The RM replied that there was not but that the NRF Board was aware of the funding challenges faced by its members and it was hoped that this would be taken into consideration.

Cllr C Cushing conveyed his thanks to the flood wardens for all their hard work. He asked the RM whether the past year had been a particularly bad year for severe weather events. The RM replied that a lot of people had commented on how bad this year had been. There seemed to be more incidents and they were lasting for longer. She added that as extreme weather events were a national problem, North Norfolk was often disadvantaged when it came to seeking funding support from Government. Priority, not unreasonably, was given to industrial and urban areas which were more heavily populated.

The Chairman thanked the RM once again for all her hard work.

RESOLVED

To note the report and the Council’s contributions to the Norfolk Resilience Forum in emergency preparedness planning and incident response, which help to discharge the Council’s functions under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.