HEREFORDSHIRE has severed one of its last ties to Worcestershire. From now on, when it comes to major incidents, the county can go it alone.

That is a huge responsibility for Geoff Haskell who heads up Herefordshire Council's Emergency Planning Unit (EPU). But he is used to it.

Geoff has played a key role in joint-county emergency planning operations. Flooding, foot and mouth, the fuel crisis ... they have all come within his remit.

Geoff and his team work alongside emergency services co-ordinating a range of council activities to ensure public services are maintained, disruption kept to a minimum and 'normality' restored as soon as possible - something shared between Herefordshire and Worcestershire since the mid-1980s. The team split in two this month, giving the county an EPU of its own amid a Government review of civil protection arrangements, spotlighting the whole strategy of national funding and management of emergency planning.

Geoff Haskell said: "Herefordshire and Worcestershire are facing new and separate challenges and need to consolidate their respective roles. We want to be in a position to meet any new duties that the Government might place upon us when the review is concluded."