For immediate release

Tell us what’s important in emergencies

It’s time for people in Bay of Plenty to have a say about a new five-year regional emergency management plan.

The plan’s called the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Plan, or the Group Plan for short. It’s reviewed every five years and sets out what the Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group wants to achieve to help keep Bay of Plenty communities safe.

The Bay of Plenty CDEM Group is made up of all seven councils in the region along with the Group office (Emergency Management Bay of Plenty) and partners including Fire and Emergency New Zealand and NZ Police.

Emergency management teams and councils have specific technical and operational plans which lay out how they will deal with hazards like earthquakes, floods and tsunami before, during and after emergencies. The Group Plan doesn’t go into that sort of detail: instead, it sets the region’s strategic direction.

“The Plan is about how we chart our course for Civil Defence Emergency Management across the Bay of Plenty for the next five years” says Mark Crowe, Acting Director of Emergency Management Bay of Plenty. “There are other emergency plans- ranging from community response plans through to national disasters which lay out operational details, but the Group Plan is our chance to say how we will navigate the hazards we will face, by working with our communities.”

Formal submissions are now open so that people can have a say about the 2023-2028 Group Plan before it is finalised. This follows an informal process for a previous draft last year, where 250 people made submissions.

Mr Crowe says “recent events have highlighted the importance of good emergency management and preparing for disasters. In only a few months we have seen personal tragedies, homes and businesses lost and huge infrastructure damage.  The sad fact is, emergencies aren’t going to stop happening, so we need to set ourselves up as well as we can.”

Submissions for the Group Plan are open until the 13 August 2023. After that there will be public hearings in early September. People can look at the revised Group Plan and fill out a submission form at www.participate.boprc.govt.nz/GroupPlan.

There are also printed copies of the Group Plan and submission forms at all Bay of Plenty regional, district and city council service centres.

Visit www.participate.boprc.govt.nz/GroupPlan for more information.