Protecting your community

Community Resilience focuses on encouraging people to plan for local risks and be prepared to help themselves as a community if affected by an emergency.

Experience has shown that, sometimes, due to the scale and nature of an emergency, the normal response provided by the emergency services can be delayed.

On these occasions, anything the local community can do to support each other will help everybody to deal with the emergency more effectively.

What is a community?

A community group can be any group of people who wish to come together to create a plan that they can all rely on during an emergency. 

Whether this is a local parish council, a book group, or a few neighbours in the same street, it does not matter.

Community Emergency Plans

We encourage all communities to develop a local emergency plan to enhance their preparedness and resilience to emergencies.

Why should my community have an emergency plan? 

Sometimes, incidents occur that may hinder the emergency services response time. In these circumstances, a community emergency plan can enable you to sustain your community until emergency services are able to assist you.

This plan does not need to be complicated and should be designed in a way that best serves your communities needs and capabilities!

Where do I start? 

We have provided a user-friendly community plan template and associated guidance document, should you wish to use it. This template is a great place to start when establishing your community’s emergency plan.

If you would prefer to have a Word document version of this template, please email [email protected].

Community Resilience Project 2025 +

In partnership with the Environment Agency, West Northamptonshire Council is launching a Community Resilience Project. The project aims to improve the resilience in a parish/community against floods and other emergencies.

Building the resilience of a community improves its ability to prepare, withstand and recover from emergencies.

As part of the project the community/parish will receive: 

• a community risk profile
• assistance with creating or reviewing the Community Emergency Plan
• flood warden training, grab bag and ongoing support for flood wardens via newsletters and events
• community awareness - guidance materials, school visits and community event visits
• community hub box - essential equipment for a safe space in an emergency

To find out if your parish/community is in scope for the project and further information, please email [email protected].

Last updated 01 October 2025