TWENTY thousand families living near Devonport Dockyard will be called or sent a text message to warn them in the event of nuclear leaks or other emergencies, under council plans to be announced next year.

The ground-breaking emergency notification system, called Informer, is being brought in because the dockyard's siren is not seen as an adequate 21st-century way of warning people living in what has been described as one of the most dangerous areas in Britain.

In addition to the dockyard's nuclear facilities, Britain's 14th largest city has a Royal Navy weapons depot, a petrol terminal at Cattedown, a fuel depot at Torpoint and a gas pipeline.

Giles Perritt, Plymouth City Council's head of continuous improvement, described the city as "hazard-rich".

Mr Perritt, the council's lead officer on civil protection, outlined the plan, which is still being finalised, this month at a Devonport Local Liaison Committee meeting. That meeting mainly discussed the leak of radioactive coolant into the Tamar as it was being pumped off the submarine HMS Trafalgar last month.

Since 2003, the council has been responsible for Devonport's offsite emergency plan, and Mr Perritt told the meeting that 20,000 households "along the estuary" would be included.

In addition to everyone living in a 2km zone around the dockyard, this will include areas such as Ernesettle, Torpoint and Saltash.

Already 39,000 people living in such areas will receive a public information leaflet detailing emergency procedures. "It will be warning not just of radiological but anything in that part of the city."

Mr Perritt told the WMN's sister paper, The Herald: "We have identified that the dockyard siren does not really do the trick in terms of letting people know quickly."

Scott Senior, the council's civil protection manager, said messages could be sent to mobile phones and landlines, adding: "This is national lead stuff."

He said the scheme could even be increased to cover the city centre too.

The council is part of the emergency planning group the Estuary Forum, which includes the Ministry of Defence, Cornwall County Council, various fuel depots, police and the fire service.

It is expected that such agencies could also trigger the warnings, although it has not yet been revealed who would make the calls and what message they would impart.

Mr Senior said: "It's there for big emergencies – we have yet to work out protocols."