Local authority major incident management in the United Kingdom: Are local services adequately equipped to enhance resilience to pandemic-induced crowd risks?

This paper employs a qualitative case study research strategy to investigate local-level major incident management in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 June 2020, thousands of people took advantage of a short respite from COVID-19 lockdown measures and flocked to Bournemouth's beaches in Southeast England. The crowd surge heightened unruly and anti-social behaviour leading to unprecedented social disorder in the city's town and beaches. Since the local authorities could not contain the crowd, a major incident was declared to seek assistance in managing the crowd. Aiming to assess the effectiveness of the major incident management, this research generated empirical data from local authorities and emergency responders who attended to the incident. Anchored by a conceptual framework that links the research enquiries to the methodology, this research is underpinned by a triangulation approach to data collection and analysis. The key findings underscore the critical role of major incident declaration in mobilising emergency responders; uncertainty on the type of major incident that was declared albeit justified by overcrowding at the beach; challenges in preparation for the incident response and multi-agency collaboration; and issues with situational awareness, coordination, and early warning for response. This study exposes the vulnerability of local authorities in dealing with uncertain, residual, or unanticipated risks. Informed by the findings, this paper proffers recommendations on ways to enhance local response to major incidents in the United Kingdom. It enriches the core knowledge base in incident response and adds value to the literature on crowd-related risks, especially during situations of uncertainty.