Agenda item

Paul Elliston, Community Engagement Officer (SRA) will be facilitating a Flooding and Emergency Planning Workshop for the Minehead and Watchet LCN, on the evening of Wednesday 19^th June 2024. This will take place at the West Somerset House, Council Chamber, between 6-9pm.

Representatives from the LCN will have the opportunity to shape the workshop according to their local needs.

Due to a conflicting appointment this item was brought forward on the agenda. Bel Deering outlined how the Community Resilience Team were facilitating Emergency Planning workshops across the county via the LCNs.

The Workshop for the Minehead and Watchet LCN will be on the evening of Wednesday 19 June at West Somerset House between 6-9pm.

Paul Elliston had tendered his apologies prior to the meeting, but had prepared a statement:

Based on Somerset Prepared’s template, a new workshop for Parish Councils and communities has been developed to help with the creation of Community Emergency Plans. At the time of writing, this has been delivered three times by Somerset Rivers Authority and Somerset Council’s Civil Contingencies Unit staff, each time through Local Community Networks (LCNs).

Beginning in Castle Cary to cover the Southeast Somerset LCN area, we saw a good number of local Parishes come together to be guided through the process of creating a plan. The second occasion was in West Monkton, working with Hestercombe LCN. This event was more poorly attended, but enriched by the addition of Rotary EVAG, who were able to speak about their work and showcase some of the Property Flood Resilience products they supply to households. The third time was a return to Southeast Somerset and Bruton to run the session with those who had been unable to attend the first time.

The workshops deliver some presentation of information but, with a little guidance from the front, the primary focus of the workshop is to allow participants to discuss together and bounce around ideas which ultimately serve to enrich their own plans. We’ve also seen real value in organising this with multiple, neighbouring parishes, as it allows for increased awareness of what assets, skills and places each parish has that could be brought to bear in a time of need and where the opportunities for mutual aid between parishes lie.

As a new initiative, feedback from the events has been intentionally captured and it’s clear that they have been a resounding success. Using the worked example of responding to flooding, parishes leave the workshop with a partially completed plan and the knowledge required and confidence needed to continue developing it. One recent participant, for example, commented that the workshop was “very professional and informative…I feel confident that I will now be able to enthuse my council colleagues about the value and importance of setting up a plan”. In general, those attending have thoroughly enjoyed both the format of the workshop and the opportunity to have their questions answered. Recognising the assets and skills they have available to them to be able to respond to emergencies was particularly revelatory, but discussions around disseminating, resourcing and operationalising their plan were also particularly appreciated.

The workshop has been considered so valuable that there’s already been requests to repeat it elsewhere, to hold it every year and also run a subsequent ‘Exercise in a Box’ session, where the parishes’ newly written plans are tested in various tabletop scenarios. This is something the team will be hoping to deliver in the near future but, in the meantime, we welcome hearing from any LCN, parish or community flood/emergency action group that would like to participate in any future Community Emergency Plan development workshops.

Parish representatives and the voluntary sector are invited to attend. A request was made to include Devon and Somerset Fire Rescue Service, so an invitation will be sent advising them of the date and time of the event.