Emergency planning

Emergency planning is a key role that Thanet District Council undertakes.

Emergencies happen every day somewhere to someone and it’s no different at a Council level. The Council plans to deal with any major emergency.

A major emergency is defined as:

• an incident that happens either with or without warning
• which causes or threatens death or injury
• damage to property or the area we live in
• or perhaps causes major disruption to the community to such an extent that the Council cannot deal with it as part of its usual operations.

To help deal with such emergencies, the Council works with a range of other organisations, including:

• other councils in Kent
• the emergency services
• the Environment Agency
• utility operators, such as gas and electricity companies
• and the voluntary sector

to prepare plans to respond these incidents.

The Council has its own Major Emergency Plan, which covers a range of eventualities that ensure that we can respond, whatever the incident and wherever and whenever it occurs:

• Section 1 - introduction and background (word doc)
• Section 2 - management, control and co-ordination  (word doc)
• Section 3 - activation and alerting  (word doc)
• Section 4 - action  (word doc)
• Section 5 - annexes  (word doc)

Usually our staff would continue to do their jobs, but perhaps in different locations or on a larger scale. Because Thanet is a coastal area and we have a busy harbour and port, there are elements of this plan that are specific to our District, including:

• a Coastal Oil Pollution Plan
• a Storm Tide Flood Plan
• an Emergency Plan for the Port of Ramsgate & Royal Harbour

To ensure that these plans work effectively, the Council regularly carries out training exercises with its own staff and our partner organisations.

Kent Resilience Forum

Thanet District Council is a member of the Kent Resilience Forum, which has carried out an assessment of the risks facing the county. The results of this can be found in the Kent Community Risk Register

Emergency Planning Officer

Tel: 01843 577083