Building Resilient Communities workshop welcomed by parish councils
- Kent Resilience Forum
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
The Kent Resilience Team was delighted to host its second Building Resilient Communities Workshop for parish councils on behalf of the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum.
The all-day event was held in partnership with Communities Prepared and supported by KALC, was hosted at Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s (TMBC) West Malling headquarters.
Over 30 parish and town council representatives attended the workshop which was focused on local community resilience planning
The programme included presentations from the Met Office, the Environment Agency and TMBC’s emergency planning officer. There were interactive workshops and discussion sessions led by Communities Prepare alongside case study presentations from East Peckham Parish Councillor David Seal and Kings Hill Parish Clerk Karen Bell.
Chiddingstone Parish Vice-Chair, Councillor Kerry Outlaw spoke about the significant local impacts of a prolonged phone line and internet outage incident, highlighting that it is not just flooding that can cause widespread disruption to communities, and the need to plan for a range of emergencies.
Kerry also gave an overview of local pilot project to bring together a cluster of parishes in West Kent who are looking at ways of combine resources and capabilities as joint endeavour in community resilience planning. This is an approach that Kerry plans to help promote to other rural communities, providing future support alongside the Kent Resilience Team.
Delegates had the chance to speak to visit agency stands and meet with representatives from Kent Fire and Rescue Service’s home safety team, the Environment Agency’s flood resilience advisors, and the team from KALC.
There was also chance for people to talk to Kent County RAYNET, who also demonstrated the portable communications facilities they can offer in emergencies, all while providing a temporary Wi-Fi network for event delegates via their Star-link satellite communications equipment.
Leanne McMahon, Chair of the KMRF Community Resilience group said: "We are delighted at how well this event was received and the great conversations the workshop generated among those that attended."
"It was evident on the day that there is a wide variation in degrees of localised community resilience planning and an enthusiasm to find out more. It proved the ideal opportunity for parishes that were new to the topic to learn how to get started, while those with established plans were able network, compare and contrast the plans they have in place, and pick up additional information to review and improve their preparedness arrangements to support local residents."
"We hope that in the forthcoming months the key takeaways from this event will help parishes develop their community resilience plans and place societal resilience firmly on everyone's agendas. "
Thinking of creating a community resilience plan?
Kent Prepared has a range of resources and plan templates to assist you with creating or reviewing your community resilience plan.
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