LONDON BOROUGH OF RICHMOND UPON THAMES
AUDIT
COMMITTEE
DATE:
7 FEBRUARY 2012
REPORT OF: DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT
SUBJECT OLYMPICGAMES2012:RISKMITIGATION
WARDS: ALL
For general release
1. SUMMARY
The report considers the potential risks to the Council arising from the
Olympic and Paralympics Games, particularly from the events which directly
impact on the Borough. The risks include impact on normal Council
operations from travel congestion; crowd control; hostile acts; reputation risks
if the impact on residents and businesses is not effectively managed; financial
risks. The risks are being addressed through governance arrangements,
learning from the London-Surrey Classic, regular representation at
operational meetings with LOCOG/TfL, utilisation of guidance and checklists,
multi-agency resilience exercises and a comprehensive Communications
Plan.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS
That Committee note the risks in relation to the Olympics and agree the approach
below.
3. DETAIL
3.1 The Council recognises the benefits of Olympics and Paralympics particularly
from having the torch relay, cycling races and pre-Games training camps in
the Borough. Borough businesses have been encouraged to provide
services to support the Games and to ensure they take advantage of the
additional footfall on events days. There will also be a long-term benefit to
tourism as the events will showcase the Borough to a worldwide audience
and it is expected the Games will inspire more people into sports with the
related social and health benefits and to engage in the Cultural Olympics.
3.2 However, there will be direct impacts on the Borough from the Torch Relay,
the Cycling Road Races and Time Trials (and related familiarisation event for
competitors) all of which will be using the Borough’s roads. There will also be
impacts from the final leg of the Torch journey along the River. These will all
be in addition to the cumulative impacts (particularly on transport) from events
across London.
The Council’s Role
3.3 The Council is working closely with LOCOG and TfL. LOCOG is a private
commercial organisation whose role is as event organiser dealing with
delivery of start and finish venues (including Hampton Court Palace), defining
the field of play, dealing with press and media, barrier planning and running
the events themselves. Tfl are responsible for delivering the roads which
form the field of play. They work with an event management company
(Limelight Sports) to deal with road closures and traffic, stewarding and
advanced signage.
3.4 The Council’s responsibilities are coordinating road closures, temporary traffic
orders, parking suspensions and highway works to deliver the field of play,
removal of parked cars, street cleaning and delivering a road surface of an
acceptable standard. The Council’s direct responsibilities around the races
are limited nevertheless there would be a reputational impact if a major
incident occurred. The Council is of course responsible to local residents and
businesses and therefore must ensure impact is minimised and
communications are effective.
3.5 Broadly the key risks to the Council are;
- Operational difficulties for Council services – pressure/closure of roads
and public transport(both within and outside the Borough) will lead to
operational difficulties for Council services, for example staff not being able to
get to work or move around the Borough and supplies being delayed. The
situation could be made worse by pressures from staff for time off to watch
the Games or undertake volunteer activity. Maintaining services to
vulnerable residents particularly elderly and the disabled and basic services
such as refuse collection, recycling and management of trade waste and
street cleansing (the emergency services and the health services will face
similar issues) will be key issues;
- Disruption of residents and businesses - there are reputation risks for the
Council if residents, businesses and visitors consider disruption is not being
kept to an absolute minimum and if they do not receive appropriate
information to help them plan;
- Ensuring a suitable ‘field of play’ for the events -again there would be a
reputational risk if the outcome any of the races is prejudiced by actions of the
Council, for example through badly maintained roads or if the Council were
unable to respond adequately to an emergency;
- Potential hostile acts - that an event is targeted by those with hostile intent,
either as a protest against the Games or another cause or a terrorist act
(these events are particularly vulnerable as they are open, ticket free events
with no general screening of spectators);
- Crowd Management - there could be risks to peoples' health and safety
through the volume of spectators particularly in relation to the Time Trials
when spectator space will be limited. Although TfL are responsible for crowd
management in relation to the cycling races this is a Council responsibility for
the Torch Relay
- Street trading and adverting - that there will be unauthorised street trading
or advertising which is breaching agreements with Olympic sponsors;
- Financial - there are financial risks to the Council as there remain
uncertainties around the costs that will fall on the Council
- Legacy - finally there is a risk of not ‘maximising’ legacy from the Games.
3.6 These risks will be addressed through;
(i) Governance Arrangements
3.7 Since the announcement that the Games will be held in London the Council
has coordinated an Olympic Working Group with partners to maximise the
legacy.
3.8 More recently in recognition of the potential operational risks an Olympic
Programme Board which includes the Strategic Cabinet Member for
Community, Business and Culture and the Cabinet Member for Highways and
Streetscene has been established to oversee the programme. Two Working
Groups report to the Board – one is an Augmented Safety Advisory group
(including emergency and health services) which is leading on operational
matters and the other is a Legacy group (including educational, sports,
culture, voluntary services and business representatives).
3.10 The Operation Group has links with other groups including those concerned
with traffic and transport, licensing, resilience and health and well being. The
Director of the Environment is the Borough’s representative on the South
Zone Borough Support Unit which reports to the Olympic Coordination
Centre. This will support the delivery of the games, maintain services to
communities and support London Local Authority Gold Arrangements. The
legacy group has a similar range of links to other South London Boroughs
through Go South Go as well as sports, cultural and business organisations.
(ii) Experience from the London-Surrey Classic (Test event)
3.11Officers have ensured that the experience from the test event has been
taken into account. Feedback related to traffic management arrangements,
car parking, stewarding, communications, emergency services and public
transport. Local concerns have been fully explained to TfL and were also
discussed with TfL at the Environment, Sustainability and Community
Overview and Scrutiny Committee (10
th
November 2011).
(iii) Operational Planning Meetings with LOCOG/TfL/neighbouring boroughs
3.9 Officers are attending a wide range of planning events which are
disseminating best practice. The liaison with LOCOG/TfL officers does raise
some risks because of the complexity of dealing with large numbers of
officers and consultants within their teams.
(iv) London Councils Guidance and Checklist
3.10 Officers are making full use of a checklist issued by the London Councils –
this covers planning and operational structures, transport, safety and security,
games specific activities, health services, Borough services and
communications
(v) Resilience Planning Exercises
3.11 The Health, Safety and Resilience unit are holing a multi-agency exercise
February 7
th
) to test preparedness for the Games. This will involve agencies
in delivery of the Games or normal service provision. An exercise to test the
Borough Emergency Control Centre has recently taken place as Boroughs
are expected to conform to a resilience standard known as ‘Minimum
Standards’ for the Olympics (MSL-O). This defines the stretched incident
reporting and emergency response arrangements that Boroughs must have in
place.
(vi) Communications
3.12 A Communications Plan is being developed to ensure that residents and
businesses have relevant and timely information to assist them.
Comments
3.9 It is considered that the above measures will minimise risk to the Council.
There are three stands of work which need to be undertaken over the coming
weeks;
(i) Communications Plan – internal and external communications plans need
to be agreed. Although the Council can provide information it will be
necessary for individuals and businesses to take responsibility for
planning their days during the events;
(ii) Project Planning – when decisions in relation to road closures, advance
signage and crowd control barrier plans are finalised it will be necessary
to develop robust plans for essential services such as those for vulnerable
groups, waste collection and street cleansing;
(iii) Maximising volunteering – experience from the test event was that
marshals had limited local knowledge. The Council is working with the
Police, Richmond Council for Voluntary Services and the Rotary Club to
ensure local ambassadors are available to provide information to visitors.
4 CONSULTATION
4.1 A Communications Plan is being developed in order to ensure the timely and
effective distribution of information to residents and businesses.
5 FINANCE AND EFFICIENCY IMPLICATIONS
5.1 The Leader has made representations to both LOCOG and TfL to secure funding
of all costs which fall to the Council. While funding has been provided for
essential works to make the route suitable, for example removal of bollards and
speed control measures, other costs have not been funded. The risks will be
minimised through as far as possible reclaiming costs and through careful cost
control.
6. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 The Council has signed an agreement with LOCOG in relation to the Cycling
Races which identifies for the respective responsibilities.
7. POLICY AND EQUALITY IMPLICATIONMS
7.1 The Olympics will provide positive benefits in terms of the Council’s economic
objectives. The needs of people (both residents and visitors) with disabilities will
need to be fully taken into account in the local planning.
8. BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Contract between LOCOG and Council in relation to Cycling Events
9. APPENDICES
None
CONTACTS
Paul Chadwick, Director of Environment
p.chawick@richmon.gov.uk
Andrew Darvill, Assistant Director of Environment
a.darvill@richmond.gov.uk
Philip Wealthy, Head of Policy and Design 020 8891 7320
p.wealthy@richmond.gov.uk
. ENVIRONMENT
SUBJECT OLYMPIC GAMES 2012: RISK MITIGATION
WARDS: ALL
For general release
1. SUMMARY
The report considers the potential risks to the Council. Council arising from the
Olympic and Paralympics Games, particularly from the events which directly
impact on the Borough. The risks include impact on