Letter: Emergency call
Sir: This week's flooding which affected large parts of southern England and Wales has highlighted once again the need for local authorities to prepare for major emergencies. This follows on the Home Secretary's decision to reduce funding for emergency planning by more than 25 per cent in 1994, with some cutbacks scheduled for 1993.
County emergency planning officers are concerned about the implications of such a dramatic cut in their vital services. To say it is justified following an improved international situation belies the fact that Home Office expenditure is intended for peacetime as well as wartime emergencies.
Perhaps those who were helped by local authorities this week, and the thousands more whose homes were threatened by the flooding, should be consulted before the government-proposed reductions are implemented.
Yours faithfully,
D. MOSES
President
Chief Emergency Planning Officers' Society
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
3 December
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