|
STORM
Consultancy Proudly Celebrates 5 Years
Photograph by Patrick
Trollope.
SOUTHPORT based STORM
Consultancy UK have just marked 5 years in business with the
successful delivery of the Liverpool Pride 2014 event for the 4th
year running.
STORM Consultancy UK specialises in high risk health and safety and
large event management, working round the clock to provide complex
services to clients ranging from large music festivals to air shows,
even US Presidential visits!
Last weekend's Glam Fairy Tales themed bash started with the iconic
Pride parade from St George's Plateau before marching to the Pier
Head and Stanley Street. The event attracted over 50,000 and adds to
a growing portfolio of events in 2014 that already include The
Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, St Mary's Proms in the
Park and the Southport Flower Show on Victoria Park, in their home
Town.
The STORM concept was founded by decorated ex-army major Jonathan
Cunningham MBE whose vast experience and knowledge of the industry
led him to open up his own company. After serving in areas across
the world and leading over 10,000 staff in his final UK posting,
Jonathan left the army in 2009 after 16 years with a plan. The
result - a unique and innovative service offering that helps
hundreds of organisations and business to deliver events and carry
out day to day business with health and safety as a top priority.
"Live events such as Pride present a very specific set of risk
exposures requiring the close management of massive movements of the
public and staff. The complex logistical operations are reliant upon
strategic partnerships with many organisations and agencies and
require months of advance planning. These projects draw directly on
so many military skill sets and it is here that our ability to
strategically plan, adapt to change and maintain a global and very
real perspective come right into play." explained Jonathan.
Today, with a permanent staff of 9, STORM also employs a number of
apprentices, hundreds more contractors and actively seeks volunteers
where possible to gain valuable experience on unique project and
events.
LIMF and security arrangements
Photograph by Patrick
Trollope.
THE following is a
statement by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, about the
Liverpool International Music Festival and G4S. "Following
representations made to me at the meeting of the City Council's
Cabinet last week, I have carefully considered the concerns
expressed in relation to the engagement of G4S plc in relation to
the Liverpool International Music Festival. In appointing G4S as our
security contractor for the festival, the City Council has followed
the required legal and formal procurement processes. In addressing
the issues raised at Cabinet about G4S, I need to make the following
points clear. A significant amount of planning and preparation has
been put into the arrangements for the International Music Festival
including working with G4S on the security operation over a period
of 6 months. At this late stage it would not be a responsible course
of action, either from a public safety or public money perspective,
to withdraw the services of this contractor and look to engage
another security provider three weeks before the events take place.
This would mean we would have to compensate the company for their
loss and then look to engage another company, something we cannot
afford to do. Equally, I do not propose to cancel the hugely popular
festival, enjoyed by many thousands of residents and visitors. I
have however noted the concerns and had regard to the wider points
raised and have therefore asked the Chief Executive to implement a
review of our procurement arrangements accordingly."
What are your views on G4S providing services at the LIMF
Festival? Email us your thoughts to our newsroom via:-
news24@southportreporter.com.
|
 |
New law now
allows press and public to film, tweet and blog from Town Halls
IN a boost for local
democracy and the independent free press, Councils in England were
brought into the 21st Century on 6 August 2014, after Local
Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, signed a Parliamentary order
allowing press and public to film and digitally report from all
public meetings of Local Government bodies. This 'right to
report' updates a law passed by Margaret Thatcher as a
backbench MP. Following the passage of both primary and
secondary legislation, the move opens Councils' digital doors,
covering broadcasters, national press, local press, bloggers and
hyper local journalists and the wider public. The new law aims to
end active resistance amongst some Councils to greater openness.
Councils have even called the Police to arrest people who tried to
report, tweet or film Council meetings, or claimed spurious
"health and safety" or "reputational risks" to
digital reporting. This new law builds on Margaret Thatcher's
successful Private Members' Bill from 1960 which allowed for the
written reporting of Council meetings by the press. The new rules
will apply to all public meetings, including Town and Parish
Councils and fire and rescue authorities. Local Government
Secretary, Eric Pickles, said:- "Half a century ago, Margaret
Thatcher championed a new law to allow the press to make written
reports of Council meetings. We have updated her analogue law for a
digital age. Local democracy needs local journalists and bloggers to
report and scrutinise the work of their Council, and increasingly,
people read their news via digital media. The new 'right to report'
goes hand in hand with our work to stop unfair state competition
from municipal newspapers, together defending the independent free
press. There is now no excuse for any Council not to allow these new
rights. Parliament has changed the law, to allow a robust and
healthy local democracy. This will change the way people see local
government, and allow them to view close up the good work that
Councillors do." Under the law, that the UK Government
has published, is a plain English Guide of practical information on
how the public can exercise their new rights, and what they should
expect from their Local Government bodies. The Openness of Local
Government Regulations, which apply to England, give rights to
members of the press and public to use modern technology and
communication methods such as filming, audio recording, blogging and
tweeting to report the proceedings of the meetings of their Councils
and other local government bodies; and see information relating to
significant decisions made outside meetings by officers acting under
a general or specific delegated power.
A study by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
found that:-
► A Councillor in Thanet was removed by the Police for trying
to film a Council meeting discussing airport expansion.
► Wirral Council said filming a planning committee would
compromise "health and safety".
► Tower Hamlets Council barred a 71 year old resident from
filming due the risk of "reputational damage to the authority".
► Keighley Town Council blocked residents filming, as it would
amount to a "breach of standing orders".
► Bexley Council said audio and visual filming would breach
its "agreed protocol".
► Stamford Town Council placed a ban on journalists tweeting
from meetings, due to the risk of them "not accurately
portraying a debate".
► A blogger in Huntingdonshire was removed by Police for
filming, and has advised fellow bloggers to "be prepared for
the Police to be called and the possibility of arrest".
► Journalists in Sefton where told that filming or recording
of Council meeting was against the law
Sadly some now feel that a new law that has been passed by the
European Court of Justice (ECJ), called:- "right to be
forgotten" might now be used to hide unwanted reports from the
public, by Councils and Government alike... As Lila Tretikov is the
Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, has said about the
new Law:- "the European Court of Justice has basically abandoned its
responsibility to protect the right to freedom of expression and
access to truthful information." So is all the hard work to
get the right to cover going to be undermined by this? Only time
will tell. Did you know that Margaret Thatcher's 1960 Law
'The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960' was a
successful Private Members' Bill, passed when she was a new
backbencher. This Act allowed the written reporting of Council
meetings by the media and public for the 1st time. |
