Fear of the Millennium bug has prompted the council which serves the Ongar and North Weald area to recruit a special "dry" task force to tackle emergencies.

Members of Epping Forest Emergency Planning Team will have to promise not to celebrate the new Millennium too lavishly while they are on standby over the holiday. They will be told they must respond to any alert within an hour and "in a fit state."

The need to enhance the council's normal emergency holiday arrangements for the Millennium celebrations was considered by councillors on Tuesday.

Chief executive John Burgess told the resource committee in a report: "It is impossible to know what may happen over the Millennium. Failure of vital systems that are date reliant or special events attracting large numbers of people within the district will increase the likelihood of a major incident."

The main areas of concern involve possible disruption to vital public services such as the 999 service, drinking water supply, domestic gas and electricity, public transport, sewerage, food supply and public health.

But there are also fears of an increase in noise pollution caused by alarm systems, sirens, parties and other public nuisances.

The Christmas and Millennium celebrations will mean that the Civic Offices in Epping High Street will be shut from midday on Christmas Eve until 9am on January 4, the longest closure in the council's 25 year existence.

But space has been allocated for an Emergency Response Centre and more than 30 key council staff will be on standby from 5pm on December 31 until 9am on New Year's Day. The council's standby generator will also have sufficient stocks to provide power for two days.

Councillors were told that voluntary agencies will be asked to give details of their available resources and parish councils are expected to provide emergency contacts.

The Epping Forest emergency team will be issued with mobile phones and pagers and the council is arranging to have three satellite phones available for senior officers.

The staff will have to report their whereabouts at regular intervals and be prepared to alert officers of any problems developing in the district.

All will receive a fee for being on standby and another sum if they are called out, as well as double time.

A new £50,000 security system has been recommended for installation at the Civic Offices by December 31 to beat the Millennium bug. The old card access system, installed in 1989, was found not to be "year 2000 compliant" and any major system failure would compromise security.

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