LONDON BOROUGH OF RICHMOND UPON THAMES AUDIT COMMITTEE DATE: 7 FEBRUARY 2012 REPORT OF: DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT SUBJECT OLYMPIC GAMES 2012: RISK MITIGATION 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