Agenda item

Report ES13106

Members considered a report requested by Councillor Nicolas Bennett concerning a water main burst at Corkscrew Hill, West Wickham on Sunday 28^th July 2013, near the junction with Bencurtis Park. The incident resulted in a substantial flow of water along Corkscrew Hill, causing significant damage to the surrounding road surface and pavements.

Some 251 residential properties were directly affected by the incident, including vulnerable elderly residents at Bencurtis Court - the properties either having very low water pressure or in some cases no water.

Thames Water was not aware of vulnerable residents at Bencurtis Court until advised by their staff. Thames Water delivered 40 bottles of water, considered inadequate for the residents by Glebe Housings Association’s Chief Executive. Had Bencurtis Court been registered with Thames Water as premises needing special requirements, a supply of bottled water would have been delivered without prompting.

L B Bromley was notified of the incident via the Council’s out-of-hours provider - this in respect of damage to the highway and the need for temporary diversions. The Council was not made aware of the impact on residential housing. The Emergency Planning Unit was not informed of the full circumstances until the following Tuesday, by which time the incident had been dealt with.

Although the Council’s Street Works team were made aware of the incident on Monday 30^th July, there was nothing to indicate the scale or extent of the impact upon residents. As such no information was passed to the Emergency Planning Unit.

Councillor Nicholas Bennett was concerned that the Council’s Emergency Planning Office was not made aware of the incident until the following Tuesday. Also, Report ES13016 had not considered any possible changes in procedure. Councillor Bennett felt that standard operating procedures should highlight a need for street works officers to ask searching questions on notification of an incident in order to gauge the nature of an emergency and its implications. A judgement could then be made on whether to advise Emergency Planning.

A key issue was that Thames Water had not advised the Council. It was necessary for utility companies to notify the Council of such incidents within two hours. Without such notification officers would have no information on the extent of an incident for vulnerable users. Thames Water and other utilities maintained a register of local service users. Information with officers and a utility company within two hours of an incident would not necessarily provide an indication of the extent of an emergency. Officers were in the hands of utility companies to provide information. It was also highlighted that Glebe Housing Association had not advised Thames Water of vulnerable service users at Bencurtis Court. If a utility company were to advise of an incident being escalated, the Council would pass on necessary information. The Street Works team were now more aware of the potential need to notify Emergency Planning of an incident.

Aware that the Council would have an active interest in the effect of such an incident on the borough’s roads, Councillor Grainger felt it important that officers enquire of the scale of an incident.

Members were advised officers had a system for reacting. When site information was obtained, officers would get a feel for the sense of an incident and officers could then react.

The Chairman suggested that procedures should be updated so that officers seek as much information as possible when incidents are reported. He also suggested that the Council write to groups with vulnerable services users alerting them of the need to notify utility companies.

Councillor Bennett suggested that a review of Standard Operating Procedures be undertaken along with questions that should be asked prior to assessing whether to refer incident details to Emergency Planning. This was agreed, and the issue would be followed up under matters arising.

RESOLVED that:

(1)  the details on the incident be noted along with the current arrangements in place when dealing with utility companies; and

(2) a review of Standard Operating Procedures be undertaken, along with questions asked by officers before referring incidents to Emergency Planning.