MINUTES OF THE SOUTHERN ENGLAND RADIATION MONITORING GROUP MEETING HELD ON THE 16 MAY 2002

Present

    Alan Higgins, CEHTSO, Portsmouth City Council (chair)
    John Leech, Exeter City Council
    Penny Austin, Bournemouth Borough Council
    Dr Ian Croudace, University of Southampton
  1. Apologies
    2.

    Paul Williams, Torbay Council.

  2. Minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 2002
    3.

    Corrections - Paul Williams attended on behalf of Torbay Council and not John Haikin. Wink Janes not James.

  3. Matters Arising not on the Agenda
    4.

    1. External Funding

      2. Ian described the Interreg programme that would require links with Europe but could be used to provide some base funding for the scheme. He would produce some information on the possible scope and aims of such a bid so that Alan could talk to the Regional Office about the chances of success.

      Penny indicated that she had a contact in Bournemouth who might be able to help. ACTION: P Austin

    2. Radiation (Emergency Preparedness & Public Information) Regulations 2001

      3. Penny Austin had a short guide to the regulations which Alan undertook to circulate with the Minutes. There was an issue on how SERMG would be involved in the plan as it developed and Alan undertook to write to Emergency Planning Officers to advise them of SERMG's facilities. ACTION: AMH

    3. Alan had not as yet written to other providers of services but he undertook to do so before the next meeting. ACTION: AMH

    4. Northern Ireland

      5. Ian would provide Alan with the details of this contract. ACTION: IC

  4. Sampling Programme
    5.

    Ian circulated the Annual Report for the last year. Two copies will go to every Local Authority and it will be available on the website. Ian undertook to provide Alan with a circulation list to go with the Minutes and all members of the Steering Group were asked to respond whether or not the circulation list was still appropriate. ACTION: SERMG Steering Group

    Alan would ask his Public Relations Officer to work up a press release which will be circulated to all members of the Steering Group. ACTION: AMH

    Ian was asked to provide some bullet points to go in the press release. ACTION: IC

  5. Independent Quality Assurance and Accreditation
    6.

    Alan would endeavour to contact Keith Binfield again on this issue but we did need to move the matter on as it had been outstanding for some time. ACTION: AMH

  6. Emergency Response Manual
    7.

    This had been circulated and comments should be returned to Ian Croudace by the 15 June so that it could go out to all Local Authorities. ACTION: SERMG Steering Group

  7. Argus Network
    8.

    It was noted that Graham Denman will be at the Seminar to provide advice on upgrading etc. Penny Austin noted that Bournemouth's system was down at the present time and they would need approximately £2,000 to upgrade.

    The issue of redistribution of sites came up again and it might be an issue that we might want to raise at the Seminar.

    John Leech indicated that Chris Cranston from Devon County Council had advised him that there was no money to upgrade the current system and that only 3-4 of the detectors were actually working at the present time.

    Graham had also indicated to Ian that he didn't believe that calibration was any longer required from the Argus system because once a standard level was established any fluctuation in that standard level would need investigation.

  8. Contracts
    9.

    Ian was hoping to distribute these fairly shortly. Penny undertook to speak to Poole BC who where considering withdrawing. Alan would speak to any Local Authority personally if that would help them consider their options. ACTION: IC/PA/AMH

  9. Annual Conference
    10.

    This had now been deferred to the 15 July 2002 and booking will be through the website on www.sermg.org

    Speakers included John Parfitt, Michael Clarke from NRPB and Alan Blythe from Radon. A draft programme is attached. It was suggested that we should look for an Emergency Planning Officer to take on the Radiation Preparedness & Public Information Regulations. Alan will talk to his EPO. ACTION: AMH

    The charge had been set at £20 and booking is through the web.

  10. Marketing SERMG
    11.

    A meeting between Alan, Ian and John Parfitt had discussed the issue of marketing SERMG and Ian agreed to produce a marketing pack that he would send out with the contracts when they are produced. ACTION: IC

    It was important to emphasise that RIMNET coverage was sparse and SERMG filled quite a substantial gap in that situation. It was noted that John had offered to do some artwork on this issue.

  11. Date of the next meeting
    12.

    Alan would arrange for Lisa to contact other members of the group to try and arrange a meeting some time in October 2002. ACTION: AMH

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