FRONT-LINE council services operated across North Yorkshire will be maintained should any disaster strike at the county authority's headquarters - with the help of some instant buildings.

If any sections of County Hall in Northallerton are put out of action, any interruption to public services is now expected to be minimal.

In the event of an emergency, such as a fire or explosion, staff will be now able to work from a suite of portable offices, which will be erected on the site within days.

County council officials have drawn up emergency plans designed to minimise problems for the public.

The temporary accommodation will arrive in flat packs and will be put together on the site using suitable car parks - depending on which of the main buildings on the County Hall campus are put out of action.

Through the work of their business continuity planning project, the authority has drawn up a contract arrangement with Comdisco, a Milton Keynes-based company which will supply all the temporary units.

Not all of the 1,800 employees who work at County Hall will be able to be accommodated in the portable units.

But there will be room for up to 250 key staff, who will maintain vital services.

A similar contract already exists for the information technology machine room, and a plan has been written for the recovery of the council's IT should it fail.

John Moore, director of financial services for the county council, said: "We already have effective and well-practised plans for dealing with emergencies in communities right across North Yorkshire.

"But we felt it was necessary to have a plan for the county council itself, using the same principles, to detail how we would respond to an emergency affecting our premises."