Community safety

A full guide to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/20040036.htm) can be found on the UK Resilience website (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/preparedness/ccact.aspx). It requires all local authorities to have emergency plans in place and identifies two categories of responders to an emergency. Local authorities are defined as Category 1 Responders. This means that they must:

• assess the local risks of an emergency occurring;
• put in place emergency plans;
• maintain and test plans to ensure it can continue to perform its functions in the event of an emergency: this is known as business continuity;
• put in place arrangements to warn and advise the public;
• provide civil protection;
• promote business continuity to the wider community.

As a Category 1 Responder, Medway Council is a member of the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF), which has produced a Community Risk Register that includes all of Medway and Kent.

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