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 theUnited Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 June 2020, thousands of people took advantage of a short respitefrom 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 thelocal 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 localauthorities and emergency responders who attended to the incident. Anchored by a conceptual framework that linksthe research enquiries to the methodology, this research is underpinned by a triangulation approach to data collectionand 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, andearly warning for response. This study exposes the vulnerability of local authorities in dealing with uncertain, residual, orunanticipated risks. Informed by the findings, this paper proffers recommendations on ways to enhance local response tomajor incidents in the United Kingdom. It enriches the core knowledge base in incident response and adds value to theliterature on crowd-related risks, especially during situations of uncertainty