Parish Council - Emergency Planning

Priston Emergency Plan

Background

Priston Parish Council is required to develop an Emergency Plan. This will enable our community to cope better with a widespread civil emergency or life-threatening incident. Our rural location means there can be a considerable delay before the arrival of emergency services.

At the Parish Meeting held on Saturday 15 March 2025, Councillors Peter Hopwood and Helen Burns provided a presentation on behalf of the Parish Council on its approach to Emergency Planning.

The Emergency Plan would only be invoked by the Parish Council where the threat was judged severe, and where the professional emergency services were unable to respond in a timely manner.

Responsibility for launching the plan, and for coordinating the response, will lie with three coordinators appointed annually by the Parish Council - currently these are John Cameron (Chief Coordinator) and two Deputy Coordinators: Peter Hopwood and Helen Burns.

Your help is needed!

Volunteers are sought for the following teams, who would only be called upon when the Emergency Plan was invoked by the Parish Council:

  • Rescue & road clearance - members will primarily be those with experience of operating heavy machinery/chainsaws etc.;
  • First Response - to provide first aid;
  • Evacuation point - to support the evacuation of properties and care of evacuees;
  • Elderly or vulnerable - to provide care to those members of the community particularly at risk.

Appropriate training will be provided to volunteers.

TO VOLUNTEER, PLEASE CONTACT ANY PARISH COUNCILLOR

Emergency Plan Kit

As part of of our Emergency Planning, the Parish Council is encouraging residents to become better prepared for emergencies such as:

  • an extreme weather event;
  • a public health emergency;
  • a malicious attack on UK infrastructure.

Imagine losing power and internet for several days or more, with roads unsafe or impassible and emergency services delayed. Personal resilience at times like these will help our community continue to function, with less disruption.

To help you and your family stay safe, we have prepared a checklist of essential supplies for you to keep at home.

Please take a look and print the Emergency Plan Kit Summary for easy reference if you wish.

Should you have any questions, please contact Peter Hopwood (07540 889630) or Helen Burns.

Let us hope for the best, but plan for the worst!

Other measures to keep you safe

The Council has also established the following to make the village more resilient to emergencies:

The Council also encourages villagers equipped with smartphones to make use of the following features, to improve their resilience to emergencies - for further information on these see the PEG webpage:

  • WiFi Calling - allows you to make and receive calls and SMS text messages when connected to WiFi in the absence of a mobile telephone signal;
  • What3Words - a method of using a smartphone to precisely identify locations where incidents have occurred or where help should be directed;
  • the 999 text service - enables you to communicate with the emergency services via text where there is insufficient mobile signal to enable you to make a voice call.
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