Planning for the worst of moments

WHEN a natural disaster hits it does not respect council boundaries so it makes sense five councils including Campaspe Shire have a plan to fight emergencies together, mayor Adrian Weston said.

Council endorsed updates to the Campaspe Shire edition of the Northern Victoria Integrated Municipal Emergency Management Plan, the blueprint which sets out emergency management arrangements, at its November council meeting.

Minor changes were made including updating contact details and information about statistics, public events, industry and incidents.

In what has been a first for the state, Campaspe Shire, the City of Greater Bendigo, Central Goldfields, Loddon and Mount Alexander Shire formed the Northern Victorian Emergency Management cluster in 2013.

That meant emergency management planning processes relating to prevention, preparedness, response, relief and recovery were standardised.

Cr Weston was on the municipal emergency planning committee in the initial stages.

‘‘To that end Campaspe Shire was one of the lead shires for the initiative to come to be,’’ he said.

‘‘One of the key things that struck me that in emergencies ... they generally don’t respect council borders so it was important to be able to come together in emergency management at a regional level. ‘‘It’s a great initiative.’’

Cr Leanne Pentreath said the plan was a ‘‘very important piece of work’’. ‘‘It’s sharing resources,’’ she said at the council meeting.

‘‘The emergency plan includes the group’s within our shires and what their roles and responsibilities are.’’