Could we (Council and community) cope with a disaster in Wrexham
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The horrific scenes this week of the tower block fire were terrible and something many of us could never fully understand having never lived in a tower block.
The tragedy has now been compounded for all of the people who have lost loved ones and their homes. How would we cope in Wrexham if there was a disaster?
Disasters that are natural or man made can occur any day, any place — gas explosions, rail/road/aeroplane crash, fire, terrorist all potentially leaving a massive impact after the event.Can we rely on Wrexham Council to provide effective leadership if anything occurred — they have cut their staffing so much and sold or closed many community resources.
The Leader of the Council should be calling for a report to the full Council so that it is debated in public across all Councillors and not one presented to the Executive with a rubber stamping of approval.
This should be seen as an urgent issue to give confidence to the residents of Wrexham that we are prepared for something we hope will never happen. Planning is crucial and not something that is reactive.
Totally agree with some of your comments but what is this continued verbal “assault” on Wrexham Council performance etc not just by you but by ” the regulars” on this site;
I think we all should let Democracy takes its lead; people voted for the Council just like the General election and
ask the first question — who funds Wrexham council — Labour Welsh Assembly —- does Wrexham get the same
resources cash wise as down South?As a local Forum it is inevitable that points I raise and those of others will often be directed at OUR local Council but equally applies in other areas. You only have to look at the issue over the Grenfell Park fire and the woefully inadequate response from their local Council — who have now been removed from dealing with the humanitarian side of the support as they just could not cope.
Hence the reason I asked the question could Wrexham Council cope?
Issues over funding and the investment in resources will always be an issue and although you refer to Wrexham getting funding from Welsh Government, they get theirs from Westminster. Most politicians irrespective of their Political affiliation acknowledge that the Barnet formula on which this is calculated, outdated and need replacing.
Incidentally additional funding resources are available from Central Government for disasters under the Bellwin funding scheme so no Local Authority should have the excuse of not having resources- but can they manage them?
Not sure about the council but its fairly well known that the emergency services do have an emergency plan should such a situation arise.
Yes there is an Emergency Plan for Wrexham, no doubt the London Boroughs also have a Plan, the issue is are the resources available and people with the emotional strength to enact the Plan. If you go onto Wrexham Council web site and search Emergency Planning there are two leaflets one fir citizens and one fir business that are generic and not Wrexham specific.
When a disaster of the types that have happened recently in our country, regular everyday people become heroes. They don’t plan to become heroes but their personalities come to the fore.
I believe that our emergency services have combined operations ready to deal with just such contingencies.
We dealt with that rather thorny issue of the Irish Gypsy encampment very efficiently. So, yes, I’d say we’re well equipped to cope with any and all crises that might befall us.
Wow Wexam-lager I would not even see any comparison of an illegal “Irish Gypsy” (wonder how you know they were Irish- not all Travellers are Irish) with terrorist incidents or the one such as the Tower fire. A minor (albeit a nuisance) civil disobedience vs deliberate killings and corporate deaths- absolutely no comparison in my book..
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