The Government has announced an additional £10 million for port health authorities ahead of the end of the EU transition period on 31 December.
The funding is to help councils prepare for changes at the border and can be used on measures including employing specialist staff, managing increased demand for services such as traffic management and road maintenance, and re-routing bin lorries.
Cllr Kevin Bentley, Chair of the LGA’s EU Exit Taskforce, said the funding was “a positive step forward” but that the additional work required for UK border preparations “will still be extremely challenging and many uncertainties remain for councils”.
In particular, he highlighted a national shortage of environmental health officers who carry out important checks on goods coming into the UK but are also needed on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19.
“These are highly specialist roles and, even with funding made available and the support of the new Environmental Health Together register, councils may find it hard to recruit for these positions due to a national shortage of qualified staff,” he said.
“As well as a commitment to make funding available beyond March, when new staff will be needed, we also need clarity on additional measures that can be taken to spread the burden of new checks and prepare if the required staff cannot be recruited in time.
“More widely, councils and local resilience forums urgently need access to all available information about projected impacts on road networks, and confirmation of decisions about new local transit points for ports.”