White House calls terror chief

Chief executive Andrew Sparke was even flown to The White House where he met with the assistant director and other senior figures of the Secret Service and Homeland Security.

The agency, responsible for President George Bush's safety, has been impressed with the council's contingency plans in the event of emergencies like terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

The chief executive said that they were particularly interested in how Dudley Council would work with the private sector in coping with dead bodies in the wake of a major incident.

Mr Sparke said: "One of the less heralded parts of my job, and one that I hope always remains that way, is that I have responsibility for emergency planning for the borough and a wider responsibility for the West Midlands as a whole."

"The reason I went is not out of happy circumstances. It became apparent that in the wake of 9/11 and in particular Hurricane Katrina the Americans were really having problems with coping with the amount of dead bodies.

"Because their system is totally privatised they were interested in seeing how the public sector and the private sector work together and how we would cope with an emergency situation.

"They were also interested in our emergency planning as a whole and we were able to teach them a number of things, which just shows we all have something to learn from each other," said Mr Sparke.

He went on to explain: "We were picked out as a council which could offer advice and help and it is good to know Dudley is leading the way in this field."

Mr Sparke added: "Unfortunately we did not get to meet President Bush as he was just flying out as we arrived, but The White House was very impressive and we met with the assistant directors of the Secret Service and Homeland Security.

"And yes there were some very serious characters around," he pointed out.

Bosses from Co-operative Funeral Services based in Kidderminster, which works in conjunction with Dudley Council in emergency planning, were also invited to Washington for the meetings.

Council boss Mr Sparke said: "As far as I know the Secret Service contacted someone from the Co-operative Funeral Services first and then we were identified as being able to help."

During the trip the group also discussed: coping with natural disasters and terrorist attacks, media handling, evacuation procedures, protecting key individuals and rebuilding after a disaster.

Mr Sparke was also taken to the Maryland Secret Service training centre and will be returning to New York City early next year. Senior members of the American Secret Service are due to visit a meeting which is being held at The Copthorne Hotel in Brierley Hill later this month.

Mr Sparke said that the council paid for his airfare and part of the hotel bill, the rest was funded by his hosts.

Following a national consultation after 9/11 a review of emergency planning in the borough was undertaken.

In a report to the council, emergency planning officer Mr Ian Skidmore said over the last four years a comprehensive set of plans have been drawn up to prepare Dudley for "those major incidents which could befall the community of Dudley either from natural man-made disasters or terrorism within the borough."

The council has formed contingency plans with agencies including electricity, gas, water, telecommunications, railways, highways and many other companies as well as the emergency services.

In the event of a disaster in the borough Himley Hall would be used as the emergency planning headquarters. Firefighters in the region have also been trained to use specialist decontamination equipment. And a series of advice documents have already been prepared which could be immediately dispatched to residents via the internet and post.

By Ben Lammas

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