There will be a multi-agency debrief next week to look at how the storm response was handled and where any improvements can be made.
16:27, 15 Jan 2026Updated 16:27, 15 Jan 2026
A Cornwall Council meeting has heard that declaring a major incident as Storm Goretti battered the Duchy would not have affected the multi-agency response to the incident.
There has been much concern raised this week, particularly among Liberal Democrat MP for West Cornwall Andrew George and other Cornish MPs, that the Government didn't do enough to help Cornwall at a time when a major incident was declared in Kent, near the corridors of Westminster power.
However, a member of Cornwall Council's Lib Dem / Independent cabinet said today (Thursday, January 15) that a whole system response was in operation before, during and after Storm Goretti and a 'major incident' declaration would not have changed any statutory responsibilities or provided access to emergency government funding.
A meeting of Cornwall Council's community wellbeing scrutiny heard that there will be a multi-agency debrief next week to look at how the storm response was handled and where any improvements can be made.
Cllr Thalia Marrington, cabinet member for community safety and public health, told the committee: "Storm Goretti had a severe and unprecedented impact across Cornwall with significant damage to infrastructure and thousands of trees brought down.
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"Tragically, it resulted in the loss of a life and our thoughts are with the individual's family and with everyone affected by the disruption and hardship caused.
"From the outset Cornwall Council worked with emergency services, health partners and utility providers as part of a co-ordinated multi-agency response. That work began before the storm arrived and continued throughout the storm and is now focused on recovery.
"The council activated its emergency and business continuity arrangements prior to the storm's arrival and in the immediate aftermath, and redeployed staff from day to day roles into response and recovery activity."
She added: "Electricity and water services are delivered by National Grid and South West Water. Both organisations mobilised additional resources from across the country and the council worked closely with them through established multi-agency arrangements to help co-ordinate activity and prioritise support for vulnerable residents in care settings.
"This was a whole system response with each organisation operating within its statutory role."
She then discussed the moot point of whether a major incident should have been declared in Cornwall, as was done by Kent County Council in response to the loss of water supply to thousands of properties.
"The decision not to declare a major incident the morning after the storm was taken in line with established guidance.
"The multi-agency response was already fully in place, national mutual aid had been mobilised by the utility providers and response arrangements were operated at the scale required.
"A major incident declaration would not in itself have changed any statutory responsibilities or provided access to the Bellwin Funding [a UK government emergency financial assistance scheme that reimburses local authorities for immediate, uninsurable costs incurred responding to major disasters like storms]."
Cllr Marrington (Mousehole, Newlyn & St Buryan, Liberal Democrat) said a formal multi-agency debrief will take place next week, which "will look carefully at what worked well, where improvements can be made, including issues around infrastructure, resilience and dependency on utilities.
"It would not be appropriate to pre-empt that discussion today, but the council is committed to learning lessons and strengthening future resilience of Cornwall."
She added: "We're still in recovery - you'll all see Cormac vans out there. It will carry on for several weeks at least."
Committee deputy chair Cllr James Mustoe (Mevagissey & St Austell Bay, Conservative), who along with other councillors thanked council staff and Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service for their hard work, said: "I was interested to hear what you said about the major incident and I understand the reasons for it not being declared. I was interested and grateful to see our MPs of all political parties raising this incident in Parliament and asking about more support from the Government and a national emergency.
"Can you clarify what those MPs are saying and if the Government could have done more to support us if such an emergency had been declared?"
Cllr Marrington replied: "Operationally, everyone was on the response and recovery as would happen in an emergency situation. Obviously there will be learning coming out at the review stage, but we are still in recovery."
Kathryn Billing, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service's chief fire officer, entered the 'major incident' debate. She said: "It's fair to say that a declaration of a major incident enables a different structure to be put in place and sometimes coalesce around legislative powers.
"It also does enable access to broader mutual and governmental support, but I think the key thing around it is being very clear on what it is that you want and when you need it.
"I think it would be remiss of us not to allow for the debrief to happen before we can clearly understand maybe in hindsight or for the future what could have enabled - if anything - a more efficient and effective response."
Committee member Cllr Loveday Jenkin (Crowan, Sithney & Wendron, Mebyon Kernow) said there was a matter that needed to addressed, "which is where some people have no water, no electric, no telephone because they have digital, no mobile signal because the mobile masts have gone down, and they've got trees blocking their routes.
"I've had quite a few residents in my area in that situation. There seems to be no way to communicate with them other than people on the ground. But if people on the ground don't know there's an issue, it's a problem.
"I think we are remarkably resilient in Cornwall and we did a brilliant job, but I think in terms of local resilience and local issues, having people on the ground to assess them is something that we seem to have lost a bit.
"We will still be finding people who needed help who didn't get it. Collecting those stories and finding where those issues are is something we need to do fairly urgently."
Cllr Ruth Gripper (Mylor, Perranarworthal & Ponsanooth, Liberal Democrat) said that a lot of town and parish councils were now thinking about revisiting their emergency plans in light of Storm Goretti or introducing them if they don't already exist.
Cllr Marrington replied that Cornwall had found vulnerabilities as a result of the storm, particularly with digital connections. She said learning conversations were already happening on those issues.
Cllr Sean Smith (St Cleer & Menheniot, Reform UK) said he was "really surprised" that a major incident wasn't raised. "I think this is a serious issue where, if this was the biggest storm since 1988, there should have been a bit more to raise the level of alert, which I think could well have brought in outside assistance which could have helped us."
Cllr Marrington added: "In terms of the response, that will be looked at afterwards. But in terms of what it would have done, the operational reasons wouldn't have changed as everything was in place."
The results of the post-storm debrief will be brought back to the committee for discussion.