Emergency Planning Department Fiasco

2.13.00pm GMT Tue 18th Dec 2007

When the Conservative administration at County Hall took an axe to its Emergency Planning department as part of a major review, the 11 staff were reduced to just 7 - putting the whole county at risk. All the staff bar one left, leaving the county in an extraordinarily vulnerable state for several months, made worse because a freeze in recruitment blocked the advertising for new staff.

It was realised that even after withdrawing support services from the Boroughs and Districts, 7 staff was insufficient and the establishment was increased to 9. This was found to be inadequate, so two new staff have just been employed, bringing the department back up to 11, where it was before the review!

Apart from the serious risk the county was put under, just how much has this process cost? If the review had been done properly in the first place this would not have happened.