Concerns have been raised at the public awareness of what to do I the case of large-scale emergencies. Only 12% of the population when surveyed felt well-informed about emergency planning. This compares with 20% in Norfolk and a national average of 15%. Some part of Hertfordshire showed as low as 10% awareness.

Chris White said: ‘It is unfortunate that this obscure term “resilience” is being used and that the effort to get the message across is badged “Hertfordshire Resilience”.’

He added: ‘It is important that the public have greater awareness of what to do in the case of a major emergency – simple things like securing passports, taking their keys with them and so forth may not be obvious unless you have thought about it beforehand.

‘Hertfordshire county council needs to look again at the appropriateness of its radio advertisements, at whether they are reaching out to younger people sufficiently and what is being done in other counties. Why is Norfolk twice as successful as Hertfordshire in raising public awareness?’