Gloucestershire launches Community Emergency Plan toolkit

Gloucestershire has had national recognition as it launches the “how to” guide to enable communities to put together their own Emergency Plan.
This project was completed as a result of initial findings of work funded by a Red Cross donation following the 2007 floods and both Gloucestershire County Council Emergency Management Service and Cotswold District Council have supported the project by providing information and advice on the content of the Toolkit, which includes:

• User friendly, uses buttons and tabs to work though the process
• Makes the development of a comprehensive plan look achievable in easy steps
• Provides simple, and more detailed downloadable versions of planning templates to allow for the preferences/capability of the group formulating the plan, with completed examples too
• Contains explanations, hints and tips, and encourages personal, as well as community resilience
• practical examples of preparatory work done by some Gloucestershire communities/parishes
• Plus information about linking into support from local authorities and other organisation
• Includes experiences of dealing with various emergencies from a community perspective and lessons learnt – not just flooding emergencies

Rob Doran, Community Resilience Policy Manager, Civil Contingencies Secretariat said
“It was great to have a chance to go through your excellent community emergency planning tool, and particularly to see how it has already been used to benefit communities in Gloucestershire.”

Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) will provide training on the use of this toolkit for Advisors who will be working with communities. This can be bespoke, including how to engage with steering groups/ Parish and Town Councils to form Community Response Groups, and how to involve the wider communities. For more information, please contact Marilyn Cox.