Greater Manchester Local Resilience Forum

Greater Manchester Local Resilience Forum
Name	Greater Manchester Local Resilience Forum
Formation	2004
Type	Partnership
Region served	Greater Manchester
Headquarters	Manchester

Greater Manchester Local Resilience Forum The Greater Manchester Local Resilience Forum coordinates multi-agency preparedness and response across Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Rochdale, Oldham and Trafford and adjacent districts. It brings together statutory responders such as Greater Manchester Police, NHS Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, and local authorities including Manchester City Council, Bolton Council and Bury Council to plan for incidents like flooding, public health emergencies and transport disruption. The forum operates within frameworks established by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the Cabinet Office, and regional structures linked to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and national agencies such as Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency).

Overview

The forum is one of the Local Resilience Forums created after the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to align responders across sub‑regional footprints including Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Transport for Greater Manchester, Manchester Airport Group, Environment Agency regional teams and NHS England. It situates work alongside metropolitan bodies like Trafford Council, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and strategic partners such as Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester and private sector stakeholders including Network Rail and Highways England. The forum engages with statutory responder categories defined by the Cabinet Office and coordinates with national exercises used by Ministry of Defence planners, Home Office resilience policy and Department of Health and Social Care guidance.

Membership and Governance

Membership includes Category 1 and Category 2 responders specified under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 such as Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, NHS Greater Manchester, local authorities (for example Manchester City Council, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council), the Environment Agency, United Utilities, Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester Airport Group. Governance is overseen by senior leads drawn from council chief executives, police chief officers, NHS chief executives and fire service chiefs and is informed by legal frameworks from the Cabinet Office and audit regimes like the National Audit Office. Strategic accountability routes link to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority mayoral office, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, and regional Cabinet leads for resilience, transport and health.

Roles and Responsibilities

The forum leads strategic risk assessment, interagency planning and statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, working with regulators such as the Environment Agency on flood risk, with Public Health England and UK Health Security Agency on infectious disease threats, and with Network Rail and Transport for Greater Manchester on rail and tram disruption. It develops multi‑agency plans for scenarios including severe weather events affecting the River Irwell, infrastructure incidents at Manchester Airport, hazardous materials releases near Industrial areas and public health incidents like influenza pandemics and COVID-19 pandemic responses coordinated with NHS England. Roles also span mutual aid arrangements with neighbouring LRFs and liaison with national policy bodies including the Cabinet Office and Home Office.

Emergency Planning and Preparedness

Preparedness activity includes production of Community Risk Registers alongside partners such as Manchester City Council, Salford City Council, Bolton Council and the Environment Agency, aligning with national standards from the Cabinet Office and guidance from Public Health England. Plans cover evacuation, shelter, mass fatality coordination with coroner services, and continuity for critical infrastructure providers like United Utilities and Electricity North West. Preparedness work is informed by risk modelling from agencies including Met Office for severe weather, Environment Agency flood forecasting, and transport disruption forecasting by Network Rail and Transport for Greater Manchester.

Incident Response and Coordination

When incidents occur, the forum facilitates strategic coordination across Gold command-level structures involving Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, NHS Greater Manchester and local authority chief executives. Operational liaison takes place with control rooms such as police dispatch, fire control, ambulance services including North West Ambulance Service, and transport operators like Northern Trains. The forum supports information sharing compliant with Civil Contingencies guidance, coordinates multi‑agency operational centres, and integrates recovery planning with bodies such as the Environment Agency after flooding or with Historic England in heritage impact cases.

Exercises, Training and Community Resilience

The forum organises and participates in multi‑agency exercises drawing in partners such as Manchester Airport Group, Network Rail, Northern Trains, Transport for Greater Manchester, University of Manchester research teams and voluntary organisations including British Red Cross and Royal Voluntary Service. Training programmes target resilience leads from Manchester City Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council and emergency planners from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. Community resilience initiatives work with local voluntary sector infrastructure bodies, neighbourhood groups and faith organisations to build capacity for incidents such as flooding in Rochdale and heatwave impacts referenced by the Met Office.

Criticism, Review and Legislative Context

The forum’s work has been scrutinised in the context of national reviews following incidents including major floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, with audit and oversight by bodies such as the National Audit Office and policy reviews from the Cabinet Office and Home Office. Critiques have addressed interoperability between partners including Local authorities and NHS bodies, resource constraints reported by Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, and statutory duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Legislative context continues to evolve through ministerial guidance from the Cabinet Office and health security policy from Department of Health and Social Care and UK Health Security Agency.

Category:Emergency management in England