MINUTES OF THE SOUTHERN ENGLAND RADIATION MONITORING GROUP MEETING HELD ON 15 NOVEMBER 2001 AT READING BOROUGH COUNCIL

Chairman

    lan Higgins, Portsmouth City Council

Present

    Penny Austin, Bournemouth Borough Council
    Alan Higgins, Portsmouth City Council
    Paul Williams, North Cornwall DC
    Karen Brimacombe, Chiltern District Council
    John Leechm Exeter City Council
    Paul Coakeley, Reading Borough Council
    Monica Wilsch, Slough Borough Council
    Peter Halkin, Torbay Council
    Dr Ian Croudace, University of Southampton
    Wink Janes, University of Southampton
  • Apologies

    • Richard Zorichak, North Cornwall District Council.

  • Minutes of the meeting held on 1 May 2001

    • The Minutes were agreed as a true record.

  • Matters Arising not on the Agenda

    • Radon Document

      • Alan agreed to circulate this again in case there were any further comments from individuals.

    • Entrust

      • Alan noted that following a similar submission on air quality, which had not been successful, he felt it was unlikely the landfill tax would be a reasonable source of funding for the Scheme.

  • Sampling Programme

    • Wink reported that everything was running normally. A new sampling programme had been distributed and there were only one or two authorities not submitting their samples on time, notably Test Valley and Hillingdon.

  • Quality Assurance & Accreditation

    • There had been no response from the DETR in respect of the Quality Assurance and Alan would pursue this issue with them. Ian would confirm the price for external Quality Assurance. ACTION: AMH/IC

  • Emergency Response Manual

    • Ian reported that this would be produced by December and also the Annual Report will be produced by February.

  • Argus Network

    • Wickham and Southampton had now both joined the number of authorities with the new Argus system and it was noted that there was an email chat line. The number of authorities on the old scheme, notably Reading and Wokingham, were no longer functioning.

    It was noted that the cost of linking up to the new Argus system was £1,385.

    John Leech would investigate further the situation in relation to Devon County Council and their monitoring scheme.

  • Rimnet

    • Ian noted that although the new software had been provided it was not compatible for the University system. Wink was still pursuing this.

  • Best Value

    • There was a considerable discussion around the papers circulated in respect of Best Value and these were amended. Alan will produce a leaflet format of the papers and the questionnaire for circulation. The revised objectives for the Scheme were agreed and are attached for information.

    The questionnaire is also attached for completion and return. There was some discussion around the possibility of the University providing a central source for purchasing in relation to chemical incidents and this was an issue we may wish to pursue.

  • Annual Conference

    • It was now felt that this would go ahead at Easter. There were some additional possibilities to the speakers already identified:

    Radon in Water – Alan Blythe (Alan Higgins to provide contact address) ACTION: AMH

    Chemical Incidence – Peter Haikin will talk to John Collins about possibly speaking re: the chemical fire that occurred in Torbay. Paul Williams will liaise with Jodi Foster to see what she can possibly add to the process. ACTION: PH/PW

    It was noted that Alan Ashworth was no longer working for the Environment Agency but was acting as a private consultant and therefore might be charging for his services. We should try and contact his replacement at the Agency.

    Nuclear Terrorism – Paul Hunt from Portsmouth had attended a course at the Home Office College on the whole issue of terrorism and might be able to point to a speaker. ACTION: AMH/PHunt

    Mobile Phones – Richard Doles probably too old but we might want to look for a speaker on the Stewart Report. ACTION: AMH

    All to let Ian know information in relation to speakers as above. ACTION: All

  • Contracts

    • Work will need to start fairly soon on the new contracts. Ian undertook to let Alan have a copy of the main contract and any major variations. ACTION: IC

    • The question of the group supporting a Certificate in Radiation Monitoring was discussed and Ian would take some soundings on this at the University as to its appropriateness.

  • Date of the next meeting

    • Please note this will take place on 19 February 2002, 11am at Reading Borough Council.

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