WREXHAM Council insists it’s prepared to handle the consequences of a no-deal Brexit, despite having yet to formally enact any plans to mitigate the risks.

The October 31st deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU is currently looming with no formal trade agreement in place.

Among the main issues predicted to face councils are disruption to the supply of food, fuel and medical supplies.

As a result, some authorities in the UK have already taken steps to safeguard against the main dangers, including Chichester District Council, which has spent £30,000 on a fuelling station and a 24,000 litre fuel tank.

However, Wrexham Council’s chief executive Ian Bancroft said it was not at the stage of buying equipment or procuring contracts.

He added that the six North Wales authorities were jointly monitoring all risks associated with a no-deal Brexit as part of the Operation Yellowhammer civil contingency planning arrangements.

He said:  “All the major issues like port related issues are being picked up through that group which meets regularly.”

“What we then have is a risk register and we know the key issues will be around workforce issues in social care, potential medical supplies and potentially around food distribution.

“None of those are at the stage where we are putting in place specific contracts or procurement at this stage.

“We are ready to do that if and when required, but it’s still quite hard to read where the implications will fall.”

Mr Bancroft said another risk identified by the council was the potential for tension among local communities.

It comes after figures released last year showed there had been a spike in hate crimes in Wrexham since the EU referendum in 2016.

He also said that authorities in England had greater flexibility to buy new assets than those in Wales, where there are tighter guidelines.

He added: “Tension in communities, and we have a very mixed demography in Wrexham, managing all of that and keeping an eye on that tension is really important.

“We have detailed risk registers and we review those on a regular basis.

“In England I think they’ve had more freedom to determine the types of assets they can purchase in the past.

“I think what we’ve got in Wales is a much tighter national framework and less freedom in terms of doing things for wider reasons.”