LOCAL authorities are holding talks with unions over the need to re-deploy staff in the event of a serious flu pandemic.

Plans have been re-examined for coping with major staff illness and the need to keep front-line services running.

Among the preparations are plans to run crematoriums seven days a week if necessary.

Extra volunteers have been recruited to perform the work.

Durham County Council is drawing up plans to cope with up to 11,000 staff contracting the virus and is talking to unions over re-deploying staff.

The Aycliffe children’s centre, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, communications and bin collections are considered to be of utmost importance.

Leisure centres and schools may have to be used as makeshift morgues and workers from services judged to be non-essential could be redeployed to high priority jobs.

A council spokeswoman said: “The public should be assured we’ve got things covered.”

Durham Crematorium is training extra volunteers to help perform cremations, after officials declared the service a top priority.

John Marr, chairman of the Central Durham Crematorium joint committee, said: “We are fully prepared. We’ve been training for quite a while.”

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire County Council said: “The council has been making preparations for dealing with staff shortage caused by flu pandemic for some considerable time.

“These plans ensure we minimise any impact on the public and that all services, especially essential services, such as care for the elderly and vulnerable adults and children, continue to operate effectively.

“The council and its partners will continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly.”

Robert Firth, emergency planner at Harrogate Borough Council, said grave-digging and crematorium staff had been doubled to make a 24-hour service possible.

“We have a mortality management plan, along with most other councils in the UK,” he said.

“If, in the event of a pandemic, services become stretched, we have an arrangement whereby we’ll work with other councils in North Yorkshire to deliver services where they are needed.

“We hope it doesn’t come to that, but we are prepared.”

At the Teesside crematorium, in Middlesbrough, up to 14 bodies can be cremated in a day, which could be increased to 24 during a pandemic.

Two more employees would be deployed to assist the four members of staff.

At Hartlepool crematorium, there is, on average, four cremations each weekday, which could be increased to 18. The number of workers would be doubled from three to six during a swine flu break-out.

Cemeteries in Middlesbrough could cope with an additional 4,500 graves, Hartlepool has space for more than 6,000 additional burials, Stockton has space for 3,000 more graves and Redcar and Cleveland has land earmarked for nearly 5,000 extra plots.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Durham has issued advice for clergy and parishes warning about the use of chalices, hymn books and collection plates if a serious infection of swine flu is confirmed.

The guidance notes also states that the number of funerals may increase and that mass burials may be necessary if storage facilities are used up. It may lead to future re-internment, delays in services and restriction on attendance.

It also recommends that pastoral visiting may have to be suspended and visits to hospitals be left to hospital chaplains.

A spokesman for the Diocese of York said no arrangements were in place, or being planned, to deal with a pandemic.

SWINE FLU INFORMATION ONLINE In response to growing fears over swine flu The Northern Echo has devoted part of its website to answering your questions Log on at:

northernecho.co.uk/news/indepth/swine_flu/

● Read the latest questions and answers

● Find out what the symptoms are

● Discover who to call if you are sick

● Listen to the experts at the World Health Organisation discussing the latest developments

● Keep up-to-date with the virus in the North-East and North Yorkshire.