Site Records
Buckinghamshire County Council: Emergency Control Centre (Main)
Aylesbury
Buckinghamshire
Site Visit Report: 23 March 2000
[Source: Andrew
P Smith]
The main County Council Emergency Control Centre is located in a corner of
one of the County Hall buildings and has moderate protection. Entry
is gained through an unmarked door (again fully secure) and down a short
piece of corridor. You then enter through a lightly protected gas/blast
door at the top of a long corridor with the main bunker to the right.
Straight ahead was a short piece of corridor which led to a gas/blast
door beyond which was access to the rest of County Hall. Just before
this blast door was a door on the left which leads into a small plant
room containing the generator and fuel tank.
We retraced our steps and headed down the main corridor which was lined
with galvinised steel fresh water tanks to the far end and turned left.
Through a set of double swing doors was an exit door on our right which
led up some steps into County Hall and a lift shaft on our left. Both
the exit door and lift shaft doors were protected.
Working back along the corridor the first room on the left was now a cleaning
store. The next on the left was a general store for the Emergency Planning Dept
and they had retained many cold war items including the 'mushroom cloud cut-outs'
that would be drawn around on a wall chart to indicate bomb detanation.
We are now back the the bottom of the long corridor. A door straight in front
of us led into the old comms room which again had many original features including
the individual bays. A further room off this led into the room which housed the
Faraday cage for the BT lines (identical to the one at Beaconsfield). Moving up
the corridor the next on the left was the main operations room.
Photo: Main Control Room.
Photo by Nick Catford
The whole facility is ready to go at a moments notice and is fully equipped
with road maps, charts and OS maps of the County. Desks are laid out with stationery
and telephones. Notices on the wall indicate private telephone numbers for the
use of other services. Desk plates indicated positions for various Council Depts.
and liason officers from Fire, Police and Ambulance. Our guide explained how the
bunker was still used today for civil emergencies such as flooding or severe storm
damage. A small room off this Ops room housed a briefing area with video conferencing.
Next room on the left off the corridor was a store room that had various items
in it including medical supplies and 3 hand cranked sirens one of which was still
in its' wooden crate. The next room was now a briefing room but had off it a small
plant room which controlled the fresh air circulation within the bunker.
We were extremely fortunate to gain access to these 2 facilities which are
both still in use.
(See also: Beaconsfield: Buckinghamshire
C.C. Emergency Control Centre [Standby] )
[Source: Andrew
P Smith]
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