Local civil contingencies

An extraordinary incident places considerable demands on local government leaders. Co-ordinated and efficient crisis management should be achieved using recourses provided by the local authority and other organisations. Local authority leaders should prepare, lead, co-ordinate, collaborate and inform. In legislation concerning extraordinary incidents the concepts area of responsibility and local government crises management comittee have been introduced. the area of responsibility is not defined in the legislation. However general interpretation has been that local government leaders, without specific authority, should co-ordinate the crises management activities within the local authority area. A consequence of the creation of the local government crises management committee is that decisions concerning crises management can be gathered in one place. However, its creation does not confer greater authority. Opportunities for local government leaders to manage activities outside their own organisation are confined to consultations. The findings of our studies surrounding experiences from crises management indicate successful and less successful solutions. The additions to the crises management system meet the problems we have found. The local authorities we have studied have generally conducted successful crises management. These local authorities are already working in accordance with the new principles.