Year Round Weather Event Response
Perth and Kinross Council · 21 August 2024
Back to Climate Change and Sustainability Committee — 21 August 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Perth and Kinross Council Climate Change and Sustainability Committee 21 August 2024 YEAR-ROUND WEATHER EVENT RESPONSE Strategic Lead - Environment and Infrastructure (Report No. 24/217) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 The purpose of this paper is to show how, in recognition of changing weather patterns, we are reshaping our approach to severe weather planning. This move is from the existing focus on preparations for the impact of winter weather/ snow to an approach that recognises that severe weather events can take place at any point in the year. 1.2 This paper acknowledges the previously published weather events improvement plan (Reports 23/323, 24/45, 24/123, and 24/175 refer). It also incorporates the specific actions within that improvement plan to reflect and review current practices based on learning from the October 2023 weather events. Appendix 4 sets out how this report aligns to the improvement plan actions. 1.3 This paper also details the roles and responsibilities of various teams within Perth and Kinross Council, and the key partner agencies and organisations involved in the preparation for, assistance during, and recovery from a weather event. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that the Committee: Notes the range of responsibilities and approach taken by teams across the Council to respond to severe weather events all year round Approves the proposed improvements to the approach noted against each service area in section 5 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: Section 4: Background / Main Issues Section 5: Responsibilities and Proposed Improvements in Responding to Severe Weather Events Section 6: Conclusion Appendices
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4. BACKGROUND / MAIN ISSUES Changing weather patterns 4.1 The effects of climate change are showing in the changing patterns of the weather. This is both in terms of frequency and severity of weather events. We are seeing increases in storms, flooding and drought, and changes in snowfall/ snowmelt. 4.2 These variations are having impacts on communities, businesses, visitors and the environment across Perth and Kinross. Properties have been subjected to repeated flood events. Travel routes are now disrupted with increased frequency, affecting the movement of people and goods. Local agriculture has yields affected by over or under watering. Ecosystems are disturbed. Development and demographics change as landscapes change along with population densities and utility usage. 4.3 All of which means that we can no longer base our planning on the traditional seasonal weather patterns. We are not just responding to severe weather events in winter, but also summertime. And, as we have seen in recent years there may be a series of weather events in quick succession, meaning that we must recover from each event more rapidly as resources will quickly be needed for the next one. 4.4 Much of the detail about the environmental changes that have taken place, and will continue to take place, is provided on the Perth and Kinross Climate Action website. 4.5 This follows the Council’s declaration of a climate emergency in June 2019, and the subsequent proposals to create and implement an action plan to address the emergency (Report 19/362). 4.6 At the same time as these environmental changes, we also need to be more flexible and creative in using the limited resources that we have available to prepare for and respond to incidents. As previously reported to committee we have had a lot of success already in working with communities and individuals to improve local resilience. Growing this is an essential part of a year-round approach to severe weather events. 4.7 Officers have shared an annual Winter Maintenance Policy and level of service update to the relevant committee each autumn. This has set out staffing arrangements for an out of hours service during the winter period to manage the impact of weather, particularly snow and ice, on roads and footways. 4.8 Over the past couple of years officers and committee members have recognised in discussions on this annual report that there is a need to consider arrangements for responding to severe weather events year-round. This report is a response to those discussions and looks at resilience planning and preparedness for severe weather events throughout the year across Council teams and with partners.
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4.9 It should be noted that in periods of extreme weather (intense rain, wind, snow and temperature variation) resources will always require to be prioritised. The geography of Perth and Kinross also poses particular challenges as different weather conditions may be experienced in different parts of our area at the same time stretching the resources we do have. For example, while one area is experiencing flooding due to heavy rainfall another may have significant snowfall and/or ice. Officers will not be able to respond to all requests for assistance nor address all issues raised, and expectations will require to be managed. The support of elected members, community resilience groups and individuals in helping to manage the expectations of the wider population of Perth and Kinross is always appreciated. 4.10 It should also be noted that everyone has a responsibility to manage the impact of weather on their own infrastructure, and whilst Council officers will endeavour to assist, the principal responsibility lies with the asset owner. 5. RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS IN RESPONDING TO SEVERE WEATHER EVENTS 5.1 Council teams are involved in a range of ways to respond to severe weather events. There are strong internal relationships between teams which help to make sure that we are able to work across responsibilities for the benefit of residents and partners. This section provides information on the responsibilities and roles of different teams as well as existing working arrangements. Section 6 then details any changes and improvements which have been identified to support a year-round response to weather events approach. 5.2 It may be that following review current processes and procedures do not require adjustment to ensure a year-round response. Where that is the case, the text will note this. Some adjustments will require time to implement, and the text will also acknowledge this. Perth and Kinross Council’s responsibilities 5.3 The Council is a Category One Responder in terms of the Civil Contingencies Act. The Civil Contingencies Act covers a wide range of potential incidents beyond the severe weather events which are the subject of this report. The Act requires Category One Responders to: Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning. Put in place emergency plans. Put in place business continuity management arrangements Put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency. Share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination.
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Co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency. Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management (local authorities only). 5.4 Emergency preparedness is a devolved matter for the Scottish Government and overall responsibility for civil protection policy in Scotland sits with the Scottish Resilience Division of the Scottish Government. 5.5 To execute their civil protection responsibilities the Scottish Government have established 3 Regional Resilience Partnerships (RRPs) in South, West and North. Local Resilience Partnerships sit under the umbrella of these RRPs and Perth and Kinross Council fits into North RRP in the Tayside Local Resilience Partnership (TLRP). 5.6 TLRP brings together Category One and Two Responders to plan for, respond to and recover from emergencies. Environmental, war and terror activations are headed by Police Scotland whilst human health is handled by NHS Tayside colleagues. 5.7 Emergencies which are not at scale and localised to Perth and Kinross are addressed by Perth and Kinross Council and Health and Social Care Partnership staff (potentially standing up a Perth and Kinross Council Incident Management Team depending on the nature of the emergency) and deploying resources as required with or without the help of partners such as Community Resilience Groups, Police Scotland and Scottish Fire and Rescue. 5.8 The Council has an Emergency Response Duty Officer (ERDO) on call 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. A number of Council staff from across the organisation are part of this rota which is the first point of call, via a dedicated pager number, to ensure rapid activation of the Council’s response protocols as required. Members of the Executive Leadership Team are also on a rota ready to respond 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to lead the Council response to an emergency if required. This is in addition to the Council’s normal out of hours services for individual and routine incidents. 5.9 The existing ERDO and ELT arrangements already include cover for year- round severe weather and other civil contingency incidents. No further changes are therefore required for the purposes of this report. Partner agencies 5.10 There are a small number of key external agencies that undertake a range of activities relating to weather event responses. They are an active part of the weather event response process. 5.11 The key agencies of note include: SEPA, the Met Office, Scottish Flood Forum, Scottish Fire and Rescue, Police Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service, utilities providers (Scottish Water, Scottish Power/ SSE, SGN), transport agencies (Transport Scotland, ScotRail) and Public Health Scotland.
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5.12 As there are references to how the Council particularly uses information from SEPA and the Met Office in planning and responding to severe weather events, more details on these agencies can be found in Appendix 2. Role of Council services 5.13 More detailed information on the role the Council plays during a severe weather event, is covered in the following sections listing the responsibilities of our teams (statutory and otherwise), the existing approach taken, and the proposed approach to ensure an appropriate year-round severe weather event response. Roads and footways network Responsibilities 5.14 The Council is responsible for a 2,500km road network and thousands of kilometres of footways and footpaths. Road maintenance, winter maintenance and reactive emergency responses are provided through a partnership between the Council and Tayside Contracts (Report 24/160). 5.15 As ‘roads authority’ the Council provides a full range of services, including statutory duties associated with the management and maintenance of the roads infrastructure as required by the Road (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005. 5.16 The Scottish Government is responsible for the maintaining the 250km of trunk road network within Perth and Kinross. The M90, A90 and A9 between Broxden and Keir Roundabout is managed by Amey (since August 2022). The A9 north of Broxden and A85 has been managed by BEAR (Scotland) Ltd for many years. 5.17 In relation to the impact of severe weather, whilst the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 allows for the provision and maintenance of barriers or other works considered necessary to protect a public road against flood, landslide or other hazards of nature, only snow and ice warrants a specific duty under section 34. That is “A roads authority shall take such steps as they consider reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads.” 5.18 The Council is also responsible for the management of road drainage assets (gullies/ditches/soakaways etc). These are designed to collect rainfall in the course of normal weather patterns which falls onto the public road and to store the water until solids can settle and separate out, so they do not migrate into the pipe/watercourse network. Gullies are not designed as a storage for floodwater nor to take water from surrounding land in severe weather events. The Roads Maintenance Partnership undertakes a regular gully cleansing programme to remove solids that have settled in the gully pot. However, it is important to be aware that even a completely clean gully pot will not drain during heavy and persistent rain if the pipe work is at capacity.
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5.19 Overflowing sewers/ sewer manholes are the responsibility of Scottish Water. Existing approach – winter maintenance period (mid-October to mid- April annually) 5.20 Our Winter Maintenance Policy (Report 23/291) allows the Council to meet our statutory obligations under section 34 of the Act, by providing the most effective winter maintenance service we can within the resources we have available through the Roads Maintenance Partnership. The winter maintenance budget for the Roads Maintenance Service (£4.245m) is also used to fund other weather-related emergencies, such as works to mitigate immediate risk of flooding to properties/roads and wind damage, directly affecting free movement across the network. 5.21 Around 910km of the Council’s 2,500km road network is designated as a high priority for winter service. These priority routes receive precautionary evening treatment and early morning preventative treatment that aims to keep them generally ice-free, although this can never be guaranteed. The Council also provides a high level of service on priority footways in busy urban areas. Lower levels of treatment are provided on the remainder of the carriageway and footway network, as and when required, during normal working hours. 5.22 Tayside Contracts provide the labour to drive all carriageway gritters. They are attempting to internally address the impacts of the national shortage of HGV/LGV drivers by training LGV drivers and staffing all gritting routes with their own direct labour. A combination of Council waste/greenspace operatives, TC roadworkers and private operators provide footway treatment. 5.23 In periods of prolonged severe winter weather, resources are targeted towards keeping the strategic road and footways network open. As a result, it can be a considerable time (in some cases several days) before lower priority routes are reached. This can be understandably disappointing to residents who use these lower priority roads and footways, and we recognise the importance of consistent and clear communication to manage public expectations in these periods. Where there is minimal risk in deviating from the priority treatment, officers will direct resources to these other areas. 5.24 Experience of recent winters has shown that the level of service set out in this Policy is generally achievable. However, winter seasons are always unpredictable. 2023/24 was what can be described as a fairly typical winter (acknowledging the changing nature of what is typical set out in Section 4), with regular afternoon/evening treatments to prevent ice forming overnight, followed by morning treatment where wet weather had washed the salt off the roads and thus required re-treating. 5.25 Planned activity is based on forecast road surface temperatures rather than air temperatures as reported in news forecasts. Operationally, marginally fewer actions were carried out compared to the previous winter but still sit around the six-year average, which is why it is considered a typical winter.
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Figure 1 - Operational Activity Statistics details activity over last winter compared to previous years. Figure 1 - Operational Activity Statistics 5.26 The staff and workforce in place for winter service delivery also cover all other incidents arising during the “winter period” of mid-October to mid-April. Existing approach – outwith winter period 5.27 The Council and the Roads Maintenance Partnership have plans in place to respond to out of hours emergencies and severe weather events outwith the winter maintenance period. These are undertaken based on weather warnings and flooding forecasts from partners as detailed earlier in this section. 5.28 Where there are warnings of severe weather which is likely to impact upon the Council’s roads and footways network there will be an internal assessment of areas of risk within the forecasted weather system and any proactive measures which can be taken to prepare for a response, such as checking and clearing trash screens at areas of known risk. Staff will also be contacted and asked to standby to be ready to be called out.
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Proposed approach – winter maintenance period 5.29 Due to the specific statutory duty in relation to snow and ice set out in section 5.17 it is important that we continue to deliver a specific Winter Maintenance Policy and service delivery. Given the activity during the winter maintenance period over the past six years we believe that the level of service delivery from 2023/24 remains appropriate for 2024/25 and no changes are proposed. 5.30 Roads Maintenance Partnership Winter Cover will commence on 14 October 2024 and run until 13 April 2025. As per the Winter Maintenance Policy during this period in ice and snow conditions, and when ice or snow is forecast and roads are not dry, treatment and pre-salting will be carried until 9pm on strategic routes connecting main centres of population. Complete morning de- icing on strategic routes will also take place by 7.30am (9am on Sundays and nationally recognised public holidays). Additionally, from December to January pre-salting and treatment will be carried out in ice and snow conditions overnight from 11.30pm-8am on the most important strategic routes. Standby vehicles will also be available across Perth and Kinross – 22 vehicles during the peak periods of end October to late February. 5.31 Rotas will be put in place to adequately cover the level of service provided in accordance with this policy. However, in periods of prolonged severe weather, there may be an impact on service delivery due to a requirement to ensure that operatives are given adequate (statutory) rest breaks and do not exceed driver hours. Proposed approach – outwith winter maintenance period 5.32 Staff, labour and plant resources will be available for out of hours situations and be deployed according to the corporate priority of the Council depending on the type of emergency event. This will be based on forecast advice from partners and may include impacts from temperature variation and strong winds leading to tree fall/ debris obstructing roads. However, we recognise that flooding is the most likely and most concerning outcome of a year-round weather event and are therefore providing more detail on plans for responding to those circumstances. 5.33 The Council will manage, maintain and operate flood protection schemes in accordance with operational manuals and guidance. A sufficient Out of Hours (OOH) rota will be in place to deal with predicted flooding issues. 5.34 Following the flooding event on 7-8 October 2023 a review of the Perth Flood Scheme is ongoing. The following actions are being undertaken: The warnings and triggers levels have been reviewed and are considered to still be relevant. Council owned telemetry site alarms and triggers are being reviewed. Business contacts in lower Friarton and Harbour area updated, and text messaging system being set up for warning resident/business groups impacted when gates are closed.
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Residents to be encouraged to sign up to SEPA’s free Floodline service (Floodline | Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)) providing live flooding information and advice on how to prepare for or cope with the impacts of flooding 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 5.35 All gates in the scheme are being assessed to establish if there are alternatives to the existing arrangements and budget implications will be available for consideration later in the year. These could include: Permanently closing a gate to reduce the number which require staff to be deployed to close them in a flooding event. Alternative barrier systems to reduce the time taken and resources required to close the gate. 5.36 The assessment includes the impact the gate has on people movement and amenity value, future maintenance requirements and costs. Modern lightweight barrier systems have already been ordered to replace the existing heavy promontory and Queens Bridge systems. These are expected to be delivered in November 2024 and will ensure that if required these can be deployed more quickly and with fewer resources than the original barrier solutions. 5.37 Lightweight contingency flood barriers in two different types (Boxwall and WL- watergate system) have also been purchased. These can be used at different locations and can also be deployed outwith Perth. See Appendix 3 for images. 5.38 The revised protocol agreed with SEPA to advise of flow and tide data previously shared with elected members, will be kept under annual review and RMP will work in partnership with SEPA to review data during flood events. 5.39 In advance of amber/ red flood warnings via the SEPA issued Flood Guidance Statement, RMP will adjust staff resources to ensure anticipated scenarios can be adequately covered. This will include close working with other Council teams to supplement activity and to access additional personnel to help with distributing materials which may help with protecting public roads and footways, such as sandbags. Additional resources will also be accessed through: Parking and Civil Contingency officers and Community Wardens to assist in flood gate closures and eyes on the ground. Waste and greenspace operatives Mon-Sun during normal working hours to assist with clearance of trash screens. 5.40 While as noted at section 5.18 road gullies are not designed to store water or take excess water from surrounding lands, committee members may wish to be aware that a separate report is being submitted to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee later this month providing more detail on the approach to and our performance in maintaining our gullies infrastructure.
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Road bridges and other structures Responsibilities 5.41 Alongside our roads and footways network the Council is responsible for a number of road bridges and road retaining walls which can also be impacted by periods of severe weather. Our Structures Team implement various procedures to ensure that the condition of road bridges and larger road retaining walls are monitored for public safety. Existing approach – year-round 5.42 Using monitoring and forecasting information provided by partners as detailed previously, and in liaison with other Council teams also using this information, the Structures Team prepare for and ensure that we can respond as quickly as possible to the impact of severe weather events on our structures by: Maintaining a list of scour susceptible structures that require urgent monitoring both during and after weather events, informed by scour assessments as may be required. Identify, together with colleagues, structures which may be impacted by predicted weather events and carry out inspections of those structures during and/or after the weather event. Working with the Roads Maintenance Partnership, Tayside Contracts and External Contractors as required to instigate emergency make safe measures required to road bridges and larger road retaining walls at the earliest opportunity. Proposed approach – year-round 5.43 The Structures Team has reviewed and updated its procedures to improve resilience from across the team regarding provision of urgent bridge inspections where severe weather events fall over weekends. This provides a more proactive approach to staff resourcing to improve monitoring of the condition of known potentially scour susceptible bridges across the public road network during/ after weekend storm events. This approach also ensures that staff safety remains paramount with appropriate lone working procedures in place as may be required. 5.44 The Structures team are currently in the process of liaising with both Dundee and Angus Councils and are engaging with consultants for the preparation of a Road Bridge/ Retaining Wall Emergency and Maintenance Works Framework Contract. The aim of the framework contract is to allow early appointment of a suitable contractors sourced from a large pool of competent suppliers to assist the Council in the make safe and repair of urgent road bridge/ retaining wall works during and after flood events at the earliest opportunity. The framework contract will also seek to minimise time when
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procuring less complex road bridge and retaining wall works in comparison with current arrangements. 5.45 In tandem with this approach the Structures team are also investigating in liaison with the Procurement team, the Scottish Collaboration of Transportation Specialists (SCOTS) Bridges Group and Scotland Excel as to whether a National Road Bridge/ Retaining Wall Emergency and Maintenance Works Framework Contract can be procured via Scotland Excel. 5.46 Both of these tasks are significant procurement exercises and affected by other priorities and also key inputs from external bodies, accordingly the framework is currently estimated to be live in financial year 25/26. Housing Responsibilities 5.47 The Council has a statutory requirement to provide emergency accommodation for anyone displaced during any emergency or major incident, including significant weather events, where they have no other suitable place to live. 5.48 As a landlord we have additional responsibilities to ensure that our tenants have access to a home that’s wind and watertight. 5.49 Homeowners and private landlords are responsible for managing the impact of weather on their own properties. Ready Scotland and other services such as the Scottish Flood Forum can provide advice and assistance on how to prepare for and deal with emergencies which impact upon an individual’s home. Existing approach for Council tenants – year-round 5.50 Our Housing Repairs Service offers an out-of-hours emergency service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for all Council tenants. When there is a weather event or an incident, that could impact on our tenants and their homes, the service deploys an emergency plan to monitor call levels and nature of repairs, ensure there is effective communication to tenants, arrange for additional staff and monitor the situation. 5.51 When there is a weather event or an incident that could impact on Council tenants and their homes, Locality Teams will undertake welfare checks (phone or in person) on the most vulnerable tenants, contact tenants living in properties at risk (flooding), arrange for support and assistance to be provided – food parcels, meter top ups, water, heaters, alternative accommodation etc and liaise with other services such as welfare rights, social care, voluntary sector etc.
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5.52 The existing arrangements for Council tenants already include cover for year- round severe weather and other civil contingency incidents. No further changes are therefore required for the purposes of this report. Existing approach for homeowners and private tenants – year-round 5.53 The Housing Service provides housing advice and assistance to those in housing need, including housing issues caused by adverse weather or another significant incident. In normal working hours this is provided through the Housing Options and Support Team, and outwith working hours, 365 days a year, this is through our emergency homeless service, based at Greyfriars House in Perth. 5.54 Our Housing Service works closely with colleagues involved in preparing for and responding to a severe weather event to: Ensure people are offered a range of advice and support – to keep the person/ household safe. Provide emergency accommodation – hotel or B&B or temporary accommodation within the Council’s portfolio. Provide support – food, clothing, travel warrants, assistance with transport etc. Store belongings. Liaise with landlords on behalf or private tenants. Liaise with other services - welfare rights, social care, voluntary sector etc. 5.55 Depending on the size and scale of a weather event the Council may set up a rest centre via the Emergency Response Duty Officer to provide a place of rest and support for displaced households. Advice and information may then be provided via those centres. Proposed approach for homeowners and private tenants – all year round 5.56 We will build on the existing support provided by the Housing Service to ensure that consistent advice and information can be provided to all households impacted by severe weather events, with a focus on welfare support. A new leaflet for households advising on preparing for a flood and advising on the assistance available afterwards is currently being finalised to support engagement with homeowners and private tenants. 5.57 Records of properties and vulnerable households impacted (subject to GDPR constraints) will be coordinated between Services to ensure that support is targeted and provided in the most appropriate manner. This could be advice on impact mitigation, welfare / temporary accommodation, linking in with key agencies and services or remediation approaches. 5.58 In partnership with the Flooding Team, the Housing Service has improved the stock of flood prevention measures in flood risk areas for deployment in emergency situations.
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Caring for People Responsibilities 5.59 Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (Adult Social Work and Social Care – ASW&SC) have a statutory requirement to provide social work assessment, social care and support to vulnerable clients aged 16 or over. Existing approach – year round 5.60 When there is a severe/ adverse weather event or an incident that could impact on ASW&SC clients either in their own homes, day care establishments, or care homes, ASW&SC Teams will evoke their Business Continuity Plans to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of vulnerable clients is maintained. 5.61 ASW&SC has established guidance to ensure that in cases of severe weather all staff are aware of the arrangements and escalation process and make every effort to attend their place of work. This guidance also details the responsibilities of ASW&SC Teams during severe weather/ adverse events. This guidance includes information on staff transport and the escalation process should there be a critical request for transport to aid staff in attending to vulnerable clients. 5.62 ASW&SC Teams all have “Vulnerable Person Lists” in place which are held securely and centrally in a form which can be accessed by the relevant member of staff. These lists are updated monthly to ensure the most vulnerable clients can be identified and supported as needed subject to the severe weather event. 5.63 All ASW&SC Teams also have contact lists and winter plans which support Health and Social Care Partnership contingency arrangements, detailing names and contact numbers of responsible lead workers across teams. 5.64 ASW&SC Teams work jointly with NHS colleagues and the Council’s Emergency Response Duty Officer during any severe/ adverse weather event or an incident to ensure that: Clients are offered the care and support they require to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of vulnerable clients is maintained. Clients are supported to access suitable / alternative care and support either in their own homes or at an alternative location e.g. Care Home, Rest Centre. There is a provision of reassurance and advice, either physically or virtually. There is partnership working with other services – NHS, third and voluntary sectors, etc.
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5.65 A severe weather event may in itself cause additional vulnerabilities for people who are otherwise not known to ASW&SC teams. Where there is any impact on households there is a coordinated effort to ensure that all vulnerable households are contacted and support offered where needed. The Council, ASW&SC, NHS and SSE will all contribute to this approach. Often Community Resilience Groups are able to identify individuals in their local area who may not be known to organisations, but who may need support in the context of the type of emergency at hand. 5.66 The existing arrangements for Adult Social Work and Social Care teams already include cover for year-round severe weather and other civil contingency incidents. No further changes are therefore required for the purposes of this report. Education and Learning Responsibilities 5.67 The Council has a duty to ensure that each school is open to pupils for a period of 190 days in any school year, except where prevented by circumstances outwith their control. Existing approach – year-round 5.68 Our Education and Learning Teams have processes that have been in place for a number of years to allow all schools/ campuses to be in a state of readiness to deal with situations of severe weather. Guidance is available to schools/ campuses and is reviewed on an annual basis. A central support team assist school management teams via a severe weather line in instances where weather situations are widespread or where a red weather warning has been issued. 5.69 The Headteacher (or nominated deputy) is responsible for determining whether a school/campus will close in the event of severe weather, taking into account information on the individual local circumstances. They are asked to refer to the Met Office weather reports, information on roads from Traffic Scotland and are encouraged to sign up for Floodline Scotland alerts to inform their decision. The exception to this is if a blanket closure (or blanket partial closure of some schools) is required or if the closure is not related to severe weather ie failure of an essential service such as power, water etc. 5.70 The Education and Learning Senior Management Team will advise if a blanket closure of some or all schools is to be implemented. This decision is taken following information received from the Scottish Government relating to the likely severity and impact as a result of the weather conditions expected, such as red weather warnings and through discussions with the Council’s Incident Management Team. Collaboration with other local authorities will also take place where appropriate. Schools are advised via email regarding this.
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5.71 All schools/ campuses have an emergency closure plan which is prepared following a risk assessment being undertaken to take account of their individual circumstances. This information is shared with staff working in and from the school / campus. These procedures should be reviewed annually and should include provision for: Contacting parents or named emergency contacts School transport arrangements School meal arrangements Other school users 5.72 Emergency closure information is relayed to pupils/ parents/ carers via the usual school communication channels. In addition, school closure information is provided to the Customer Service Centre and also the Council’s Communication team to allow the Council website and social media sites to be updated accordingly. Every effort is made to issue communications as early as possible to alert parents/ carers to a school/campus closure. 5.73 The existing arrangements for Education and Learning services already include cover for year-round severe weather and other civil contingency incidents. No further changes are therefore required for the purposes of this report. Customer Service Responsibilities 5.74 In the event of a severe weather event residents may wish to contact the Council about any of the service areas listed above, including outwith normal working hours. Existing approach – year-round 5.75 Contact arrangements for Council services are published on our website. These include out of hours emergency contact numbers. Calls to the Council’s main customer contact number 01738 475000 outwith normal working hours will also hear a recorded message providing details for out of hours emergencies. 5.76 We have a contract in place with Aberdeen City Council remains in place for all of the Service’s out of hours arrangements (Saturdays, Sundays and 5pm to 8.45am Monday – Friday). On receipt of amber and red weather warnings for all or parts of Perth and Kinross during these times, Aberdeen City Council are contacted to request that they stand up additional staffing to answer calls. Proposed approach – year-round 5.77 Further improvements continue to be developed, such as the option for the Council to add a message to the phone line to provide all callers with up-to- date information depending on the event e.g. where rest centres have been established or where support services can be accessed locally. This should
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enable a faster and more efficient response to callers during a severe weather event and hopefully result in only those callers with a real emergency remaining on the line to talk with a call handler. Community support Responsibilities 5.78 As detailed in section 5.3 the Council has a responsibility as a Category One responder to put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency. 5.79 The Council has undertaken a lot of work in recent years, and with the support of elected members, to work with local communities to build resilience to ensure that support is available on the ground locally when a severe weather event or other incident occurs. 5.80 Council and partner organisations officers and manual workers are not emergency service trained and do not carry out physical rescues or crowd control, this being a Fire/Police function. They will however support these other organisations in their duties. 5.81 The Council also works closely with the Scottish Flood Forum. Their aim is to reduce the impacts of flooding on individuals and communities, through providing immediate support and by establishing a network of community resilience groups in flood risk areas to equip communities to cope with the impacts and threat of flooding. They are mainly funded by Scottish Government but are also supported by small grants and donations. Existing approach – year-round 5.82 Our Parking and Civil Contingencies Team, Community Wardens and Visitor Management staff work with teams across the Council and partners to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies, providing us with access to a flexible resource which can be deployed to support the responsibilities and areas of work already detailed within this report, and in particular engaging with individuals and communities during a weather event. 5.83 The Parking and Civil Contingencies Team also leads on our approach to working with communities to prepare for emergencies. They have worked hard to redevelop and grow the network of Community Resilience Groups throughout Perth and Kinross to provide local support to communities during and after an emergency. 5.84 As of the end of July 2024 there are 53 Community Resilience Groups set up in Perth and Kinross. These range from large formal groups with plans, bank accounts and constitutions to agreements on contact points and sources of local insight and updates. These groups are notified of weather forecasts and warnings for their area and their readiness and contact arrangements
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between them and the Parking and Civil Contingencies Team confirmed when weather warnings are issued. 5.85 Due to the diversity of the Perth and Kinross area, no two groups are the same, nor are the requirements in each area the same. Therefore, bespoke arrangements and plans are required for each area, which the team supports groups to develop. This work is supported by £200,000 of funding awarded by SSEN to the Council in 2023 to develop and sustain community resilience, and £150,000 in the Council’s revenue budget for 2024/25 to further develop and support this work. 5.86 Progress to date has included support to Perth Community Flood Aid to help them access funding and the supply of sandbags. Support is currently focussed on helping the group with the installation of sandbag stores at key areas of risk on the Craigie Burn catchment area to support direct access locally at times of need. Similarly Blairgowrie Community Council have been supported with a supply of sandbags, funding, training and access to equipment to diversify their role from predominantly flooding support to year- round resilience. We are also making great progress with Blair Atholl CRG, Aberfeldy CRG, Pitlochry CRG, Kenmore CRG and Mount Blair CRG (Kirkmichael, Ballintuim, Blackwater, Bridge of Cally) with the supply of sandbags, support with local resilience plans and grant funding applications. The team have also met with groups in Invergowrie, Errol, Blairgowrie, Kinross, Scone, and Alyth to discuss resident interest in resilience planning for their areas. 5.87 The Scottish Flood Forum support with critical activities include advising residents of Property Flood Resilient materials applicable to their situations, provision of templates and advice for setting up community flood resilience groups, awareness raising, mediation and training. 5.88 There is UK national interest through the British Parking Association membership in the way Perth and Kinross Council has configured its uniformed presence to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies. 5.89 The Council’s social media, website and information sent directly to local media outlets are used in advance of and during weather events to ensure timely and relevant information is provided to the public. This includes advice on how to prepare for the impact of weather, updates on road conditions and closures, and how Council services are responding. Proposed approach – year-round 5.90 All CRGs and stakeholders will be invited to a series of roadshows, with an online version for those unable to attend in-person. These are being planned for October. 5.91 Access to emergency response assets, including transport, has been identified in communities as a potential area of improvement. Creating an
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inventory of response assets, including those which can be available from different owners, will support faster responses to issues in local communities. 5.92 As referenced elsewhere in this report managing public expectations is an important part of our work in this area. To make best use of our resources and ensure that these can be used where they are most needed additional work is being undertaken to ensure that we are providing proactive information and advice to residents on how they can protect their own properties from severe weather events. This includes preparing their own sandbags. The Council will continue to work with local community groups to support this work and to help with supplying sandbags at flood susceptible locations in advance in preparation for local distribution and use. Flood Risk Management Responsibilities 5.93 The Council has strategic responsibilities through the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 to develop and contribute to relevant Flood Risk Management Strategies/Plans and Local Flood Risk Management Plans. 5.94 Under the above legislation, the Council also has a responsibility to manage, maintain and operate formal flood protection schemes. The Council also commissions Flood Studies to properly assess flood risk, prior to developing flood protection schemes and undertakes surface water management plans and coastal change adaptation planning. Existing approach – year-round 5.95 The Council’s Flooding Team has a primarily strategic role including providing advice/ awareness raising; commissioning flood studies and flood protection schemes; providing subject matter expertise as non-statutory consultees in the planning process and providing advice to other Council services. Proposed approach – year-round 5.96 A closer working relationship with other teams is vital to provide the Flooding Team with sufficient supporting information to develop Flood Studies and Flood Schemes. It is also an opportunity to revisit existing procedures and work practices with partner agencies including Scottish Water, SEPA, Scottish Flood Forum and others (see later in paper for detail). The aim being to ensure that new flood locations identified can be characterised appropriately for inclusion in updates to Local Flood Risk Management Plan cycles. Discussions to satisfy this need have commenced and will continue. 5.97 A minor restructure within the team has been undertaken to allow the Flooding Team to undertake engagement activities and data collection across the calendar year instead of just the summer months as has been the case in recent years. There will also be the opportunity to assist on Flood Protection Scheme development by monitoring the local watercourses.
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5.98 New tools are being developed to improve efficiency of existing resources and introduce consistency of response to enquiries. This includes use of Microsoft PowerAutomate and PowerBI to dynamically respond to enquiries and provide initial responses in a timely manner. Improvements are also being made to streamline the process of providing advice in Development Control (planning consultation responses) to increase the capacity of the Flooding Team to engage with communities at risk of flooding. 5.99 Additional projects will be considered based on experiences of other Local Authorities, specifically focussed on property level resilience. 5.100 Input is being provided by the Flooding Team to the next iteration of the Local Development Plan (LDP3) and also the Scottish Government Flood Resilience Strategy consultation. These areas of work will allow the transfer of real-world experiences of Council officers and communities into new legislation/ guidance to assist in protecting existing communities and reduce the introduction of new developments to the risk of flooding. 6. CONCLUSION 6.1 Against a backdrop of changing weather patterns it is important that the Council continues to ensure that we are prepared to respond at any time of the year and out of hours to the impact that this has on our communities and infrastructure. 6.2 Working with communities to ensure that there is local resilience in place so that Council resources can be targeted at those most in need is an important part of mitigating for the impact of these changes. 6.3 Council officers will continue to work together and with partners and residents to take a risk-based approach and focus resources on managing/ operating community scale infrastructure/flood schemes. This may include reassessing working hour resource scheduling to account for potential subsequent emergencies. 6.4 Additional information will be provided on the website and existing information updated to advise communities of the level of assistance to expect in accordance with the proposed approaches detailed in this report.
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Authors Name Designation Contact Details Stuart D’All Road Maintenance Partnership Manager Dr Rick Haynes Flooding Manager (01738) 475000 comcommitteereports@pkc.gov.uk Approved Name Designation Date Fraser Crofts Strategic Lead – Environment and Infrastructure 14 August 2024 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Civil Contingencies Act responders Appendix 2 - Partner agencies Appendix 3 - Flooding contingency systems Appendix 4 – Alignment with extreme weather events review improvement plan Appendix 5 – Council response examples – RMP Appendix 6 – Council response examples – Flooding
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic & Resource Implications Yes / None Community Plan / Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial None Workforce None Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) Yes Legal and Governance None Risk Yes Consultation Internal Yes External Yes Communication Communications Plan Yes 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan / Single Outcome Agreement 1.1 The Council’s response to severe weather is provided to ensure that transport links and Council services essential to economic and social activity can continue to be used safely during severe weather. It will also ensure the Council as Roads Authority complies with its statutory duty as set out in Section 34 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984. However, it is not the intention and is not possible to keep all roads and services free from the impact of severe weather at all times. 1.2 The Council will operate a system of severe weather response which will, as far as reasonably practicable, permit the safe movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic on the more important parts of the road and footway network, taking into account the finance which has been made available. 1.3 Similarly the activities outlined in other weather related/OOH events are to mitigate risk and damage to personal property. This is the individual’s responsibility but Council officers will assist where it has the expertise and resource available whilst not taking on responsibility (financial or legal liability) for others’ assets.
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Corporate Plan 1.4 The Council’s Corporate Plan 2022/23-2027/28 sets out our vision for a Perth and Kinross where everyone can live life well, free from poverty and inequality. This report contributes to the following priorities within that Plan Tackling climate change and supporting sustainable places Protecting and caring for our most vulnerable people Working in partnership with communities 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 The recommendations in this report will be managed through existing agreed budgets. 2.2 The Council have this year set a budget for £4.245m for reacting to weather events in 2024–25 and this report is brought to committee to advise of preparations/arrangements for the such scenarios. It is recognised that in these fiscally challenging times the Council financial position may change requiring a subsequent alteration in the levels of service delivery to match the available budget. 2.3 The actual expenditure on the Winter Service and other events will be dependent upon the severity of the weather throughout the winter and other emergencies throughout the year and will be closely monitored by the service and reported to the relevant committee(s) as required. Workforce 2.4 The recommendations in this report have no direct additional implications for the workforce however the enhanced use of existing teams across the Council form part of the improvements to the Council’s emergency response and resilience arrangements. 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010 the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. As this report makes no changes to existing Council policies it has been assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA.
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Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a legal requirement under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 that applies to all qualifying plans, programmes and strategies, including policies (PPS). 3.3 The matters presented in this report were considered under the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and pre-screening has identified that the PPS will have no or minimal environmental effects. Sustainability 3.4 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 the Council must discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. In terms of the Climate Change Act, the Council has a general duty to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability and the community, environmental and economic impacts of its actions. 3.5 This report sets out how the Council is responding to the challenge of mitigating the impact of climate change by highlighting the measures put in place to respond to severe weather events all year round. Risk 3.6 The Council as Roads Authority have a statutory duty as set out in Section 34 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 which states: “A roads authority shall take such steps as they consider reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads.” 3.7 This reports sets out how the Council meets its statutory obligations and minimise exposure to risk by providing the most effective winter maintenance service it can within the constraints of its finite resources. During severe weather, the Council will endeavour to keep delays to a reasonable minimum. 3.8 The Council has strategic responsibilities through the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 to develop and contribute to relevant Flood Risk Management Strategies/Plans and Local Flood Risk Management Plans, and to manage, maintain and operate formal flood protection schemes. 3.9 This report sets out how in meeting those statutory obligations the Council contributes to preparedness and responses to severe weather events.
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4. Consultation Internal 4.1 Elected members are aware of and support the action plan and updates presented to Scrutiny and Performance Committee in respect to dealing with severe weather events, particularly flooding. For all weather events resources are finite and impacts may be spread across Perth and Kinross, and so officers will have to triage and react as quickly as possible. The Council do not have 24/7 shifts as emergency services do and so reaction times will aways be slower and require reporting to workplaces in advance of supporting communities/ acting on requests for assistance. 5. Communication 5.1 Communication will take place in due course. 5.2 Detail on gritting routes and times will be made available on the Council website and ongoing winter action and road conditions will be made available via Council, website, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). 5.3 Notification of flood gate closures will be made via X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, pending the text messaging system being developed. 5.4 Information and advice on preparing for and managing the impacts of other severe weather events, including partner information, will also be shared through these channels as appropriate. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 Well Managed Highway Infrastructure 2016 2.4 Road (Scotland) Act 1984 2.5 Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009