We each play a role in the wider community around us. By working together in difficult times, we can help reduce the impact of an incident and make recovery quicker and return to normality much more efficiently.
Being a resilient community comes down to being a good neighbour. Building positive relationships with those who live around us can be invaluable when an emergency hits. Knowing who can provide a bit of assistance, or who might need it, makes a difference.
The Scottish Government and local authorities work together to support more formalised structures in communities to develop preparedness. These are called Community Resilience Groups.
Community Resilience Groups (CRGs) are organised volunteers within your community who assist the Emergency Services and the Council during incidents like flooding. Groups also carry out pre-planning work in areas which helps minimise the impacts of flooding working closely with the Scottish Flood Forum, The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), Police and Fire Service and meet regularly to share good practice. The groups are usually linked to your Community Council although in some instances they may operate separately but still work with the council.
Community Resilience Groups do not replace the work of the Emergency Services or the Council. Volunteers do however assist as a point of contact, collating information and assisting with safe activities at a level they are comfortable with. For example, this might be volunteering at a support centre during an emergency, clearing snow from communal paths, monitoring water levels in burns or rivers and deploying sandbags and other similar protection equipment prior to a flooding incident.
A Community Resilience Plan is a document owned by a Community Resilience Group. It outlines what the group will do in emergency situations if their plan needs to be activated. These plans are normally agreed with the Council and the Scottish Flood Forum.
The group keeps in regular touch with Council officers, and both will agree what triggers will activate the plan.
The plan will contain a variety of localised risk assessments and training to protect group members. For example, this will cover the likelihood of flooding and what can be done to reduce the risks. Our existing groups have access to communal equipment such as grit, snow shovels, flood sacks, flood snakes, small pumps, watergate barriers, high-visibility clothing etc.
As these plans will contain volunteer contact information and other sensitive details they are not publicly available.
If you want to get involved in your local Community Resilience Group please contact the groups via the email addresses above.
If you are interested in setting up a group in your local area, please email resilience@clacks.gov.uk.
Resilience
Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Tel: 01259 450000
Email: resilience@clacks.gov.uk