Emergency Planning
Town and Parish Councils: Building Local Resilience Together
In an era of increasing climate impacts, energy shocks and extreme weather, emergency planning is more important than ever for Town and Parish Councils. While national and county-level resilience frameworks exist, it's at the community level where timely responses, local knowledge and trusted networks can make all the difference.
Town and Parish Councils have a statutory duty to consider emergencies and can play a vital role in building community preparedness. Emergency plans help local people respond quickly to risks like flooding, storms, power outages or heatwaves—especially for the most vulnerable.
A local emergency plan typically includes:
Key contacts (emergency services, local volunteers, councillors)
Community assets (buildings, vehicles, skills)
Vulnerable people and support plans
Communication protocols for rapid alerts
A risk map aligned with the Community Risk Register from your local Resilience Forum
Crucially, emergency planning is not just about crisis response—it's about building resilience ahead of time. That means working with local schools, faith groups, sports clubs, and residents to strengthen social networks, share information, and prepare together.
As the climate crisis accelerates, climate risks—from water stress or flooding, to food supply shocks—should be integrated into your plan. Councils can connect this work with their Community Climate Action Plan, ensuring that actions on energy, food, transport, housing and biodiversity support long-term resilience.
Templates, toolkit and guidance are available from organisations like the Environment Agency, Government , and Community Emergency Planning Officers. If your council hasn’t yet declared a climate emergency, now’s the time to start—and use that declaration to initiate or update your emergency plan.
Resilient communities aren’t built overnight—but with local leadership, collaboration, and practical planning, your parish can be ready for the future.