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.

East Devon District Council	eddc@east-devon.gov.uk
Exeter City Council	emergency.planning@exeter.gov.uk
Mid Devon District Council	customerservices@middevon.gov.uk
North Devon District Council	info@northdevon.gov.uk
South Hams District Council	emergency.planning@southhams.gov.uk
Teignbridge District Council	engineering@teignbridge.gov.uk
Torridge District Council	info@torridge.gov.uk
West Devon Borough Council	info@westdevon.gov.uk

The Devon County Council each year produces a newsletter to keep Parishes informed of topical events.

• Parish Emergency Planning Telephone Directory (30KB - pdf help)
• Snow Wardens leaflet (1.02MB - pdf help)
• December 2011 newsletter (1.77MB - pdf help)
• September 2011 newsletter (2.33MB - pdf help)
• June 2011 newsletter (900KB - pdf help)
• March 2011 newsletter (1.47MB - pdf help)
• December 2010 newsletter (912KB - pdf help)
• September 2010 newsletter (1.17MB - pdf help)
• June 2010 newsletter (909KB - pdf help)
• March 2010 newsletter issue no. 8 (407KB - pdf help)
• December 2009 newsletter issue no. 7 (395KB - pdf help)
• July 2009 newsletter issue no. 6

Model Parish planning documentation, guidance and pack information is available:

Parish Community Model Plan 1  (Word version)

Parish Community Model Plan 2 (167KB - pdf help)  (Word version)

Parish Planning General Information & Guidance Document

Form to Aid Information Gathering within the Community  (word version)

Risk Assessment (90KB - pdf help)

Risk Assessment Template (6KB - pdf help)

Abbotskerswell Desktop Exercise Scenario (34KB - pdf help)

Community Planning Pack Cover (200KB - pdf help)

Community Planning - Pack Contents (70KB - pdf help)