Community Resilience
The emergency services have to prioritise those in greatest need during an emergency. Communities may need to rely on their own resources until professional help arrives.
Many communities spontaneously help one another in times of need. But communities who have prepared in advance are able to cope better and recover faster. If a community is prepared for possible risks, you can reduce the impact on your homes and businesses.
Following the flooding of 2014 Test Valley Borough Council recognised that those communities that were prepared recovered faster than those that had undertaken no planning. Since then the Borough Council has worked with Parish and Town Councils to encourage the production of Community Emergency Plans with the aim of making local communities more resilient.
This may mean that they:
- are aware of risks that may affect them and what the impact would be
- complement the work of local emergency services
- use their existing skills, knowledge and resources to provide support to others.
A community plan will help all volunteers know their roles when there's an emergency. It can be shared with emergency services so that everyone can work together. There are lots of places to get advice on developing your community plan and a plan template is available to download from this page. Simple and effective advice is available on gov.uk/prepare
For further information please contact Michael White telephone 01264 368013 email mwhite@testvalley.gov.uk