In looking for our latest #LRFPeople interviewee, it seemed the perfect time to speak to Fylde Council’s Lee Rossi as he prepares for the annual Lytham Festival.

More than 100,000 people are expected to descend on Lytham St Annes in July for the annual five-day musical extravaganza that this year will see world class entertainers such as Michael Buble, Alanis Morisette and Pitbull all performing to packed out crowds.

It is an event that obviously needs careful planning with Lee at the heart of things as part of his role as the council’s Corporate Risk and Emergency Planning Manager.

Speaking about the festival he said: “It’s a major piece of work for the Council that starts about six months before the event itself.

“We have to look at all sorts of issues with people from across a wide range of teams such as the environment and community safety, licensing, highway and waste departments; the event organisers and blue light partners and other who work as a Safety Advisory Group (SAG). They meet early and talk through what they have learned from past festivals and look at what can be done differently to make things even safer this year.

“For example, last year we had the full area where the festival takes place mapped in 3D which gave emergency service people a fantastic guide to the site with key strategic points identified that would help them get access to where they needed to be quickly in any emergency while this year we have added to our rest centre provision as a result of feedback gathered.

“One of the shows had to sadly be abandoned last year because of high winds, so the height of the stage has been reduced this year in an effort to prevent that from happening again.

“In the run up to the festival we also run some tabletop exercises where we play out how we would respond to various scenarios that could potentially happen or have happened at other events elsewhere and we get loads of learning from those exercises going alongside what we learned from the previous year.

“It is busy, but it is exciting as well. This will be my third Lytham Festival, and it is great to know there is such a dedicated team of people who do all they can to make sure the event is as safe as it can be for the public.’’

Speaking about his day-to-day role Lee, like many people in emergency planning, said it was something that he “fell into.’’  

He said: “I sort of stumbled into it but once I got the taste for it, I wanted more and I never anticipated that I would be working in the role I am now.

“I was working with Wyre Borough Council as an area operations officer and a duty officer role came up which I was fortunate enough to get. On the second or third shift I was on we had a major flooding incident at St Michaels which the Head of Transport and I ended up being in charge of. It was an exceptional event really, a bit like a scene from a movie. I was dialling into all sorts of senior strategic and tactical meetings and co-ordinating the operation response and thankfully it went really well.

“After that a position came up as an assistant emergency planner and depot manager and after taking advice from a super guy called John Blundell, I got that job in January 2020 – just as Covid hit.

“As all emergency planners will tell you that needed a sustained, major response from everyone with foodbanks, medicine deliveries and the setting up and co-ordinating of Covid test centres across the Borough.

“It was a baptism of fire as you can imagine but it stood me in good stead for the move to Fylde a couple of years ago initially as a Corporate Emergency Planning and Risk Management officer, and recently as the Corporate Risk and Emergency Planning Manager. I now oversee all the emergency planning, risk management and business continuity functions.

“What I like about working in emergency planning is working in a wider community of professionals who I think are quite unique. We have the Lancashire Resilience Forum and the support of all the other emergency planners and response teams across the county and they work together, which is something I don’t always see in other sides of the business.

“It is fantastic to know you have a solid group of knowledgeable individuals who offer their time and information freely and have been key to my own learning and development from being an assistant to being a lead officer.

“I love the fact we are making a difference as well. I don’t think people always see that difference emergency planners make as so much of the work they do goes on behind the scenes, but I am proud to be with a group of people who are dedicated to helping others in their communities.’’