World leaders due to attend climate change summit in Glasgow are put at risk after bungling civil servants publish plans of the site (described as ‘manual for terrorists’) online
- Two hundred heads of state will gather for the Conference of the Parties summit
- Security bill for the two-week event is expected to be tens of millions of pounds
- But detailed drawings revealed secret tunnels, power hubs and generators
The safety of world leaders visiting Britain for a major climate change summit has been put at risk by an astonishing security breach.
Two hundred heads of state and tens of thousands of delegates will gather in Glasgow for the Conference of the Parties (COP) summit in November.
The security bill for the two-week event at the Scottish Event Campus is expected to be tens of millions of pounds.
But highly sensitive plans of the site – described as a ‘manual’ for terrorists – have been published online by bungling civil servants.
Two hundred heads of state and tens of thousands of delegates will gather in Glasgow for the Conference of the Parties (COP) summit in November. The security bill for the two-week event at the Scottish Event Campus (pictured) is expected to be tens of millions of pounds
Detailed drawings reveal secret tunnels, the venue’s power hubs and generators, and its gas, electricity and drainage networks.
The plans show where counter-terror bollards are positioned to prevent vehicle attacks and even show backstage and dressing areas, VIP lounges, security control rooms and the media centre.
Chris Phillips, a former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said: ‘It’s a manual for how to damage this building. It’s blown any hope of security in the run-up to this event. This information shouldn’t be in the public domain.’
The plans were published on the Government website gov.uk last December as part of an invitation to companies to apply to help run the event.
The blunder is the latest controversy to hit the conference following a row over the estimated £200 million cost of policing it.
Terrorists have previously carried out surveillance of targets using detailed plans of buildings. In 1984, the IRA spent weeks studying the Grand Hotel in Brighton (pictured) before planting a bomb targeting the Tory Party conference
Officials are gearing up for widespread climate-change protests after last year’s UN climate conference in Madrid drew crowds of up to 500,000 marchers.
Terrorists have previously carried out surveillance of targets using detailed plans of buildings.
In 1984, the IRA spent weeks studying the Grand Hotel in Brighton before planting a bomb targeting the Tory Party conference. Five people died when it exploded.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Public access to these documents was granted in error and has since been removed.’