Emergencies
Community (Parish) Planning
First line of defence in a local emergency will be the town, village or community in which the event takes place. The County Council takes an active interest in encouraging parishes to consider how they would respond to an emergency situation and to document the results in a Community Emergency Plan. Good practice would see the Parish undertaking a risk analysis before undertaking the planning, to establish what are the community hazards and threats likely to impact the particular locality. Emergency Planning would then be undertaken in that context.
Responsibilities in responding to an emergency are as follows:
Parish Councils
- Undertake local risk assessment
- Prepare parish/community plan
- Document resources and key contacts in time of emergency
- Validate and maintain the plan
- Enact plan when activation criteria met
District Councils
- First line support and advice to Districts
- Give advice and guidance when requested
County Council
- Maintenance of model plan documentation
- Ensuring consistency of contact and advice across Districts
- Support to Districts where required
- Production of annual newsletter
So in the first instance, Parishes should contact Districts regarding assistance with preparing emergency plans.
The Devon County Council each year produces a newsletter to keep Parishes informed of topical events.
- April 2006 newsletter
(101KB - pdf help) - November 2006 newsletter issue no. 2 (350KB - pdf help)
- August 2007 newsletter issue no. 3 (208KB - pdf help)
- April 2008 newsletter issue no. 4 (1.81MB - pdf help)
- December 2008 newsletter issue no. 5 (182KB - pdf help)
- July 2009 newsletter issue no. 6 (437KB - pdf help)
Model Parish planning documentation, guidance and pack information is available:
