Banter 106: 11Feb26 Community Resilience, with Lucy Eccles

building inclusive community resilience, flood preparedness and emergency planning, practical steps to prepare for emergencies, including creating personal emergency plans, connecting with locals

Video Timeline for Banter 106:

00:00 - 42:07 Presentation

42:07 - 57:05 (end) Q & A

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Presentation: Inclusive Approaches to building Community Resilience

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Inclusive Approaches to Building Community Resilience - Banter Session.pdf

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Meeting Summary:

Feb 11, 2026 11:55 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536

Quick recap

Lucy, the Community Resilience Officer at GRCC, presented on building inclusive community resilience, sharing Gloucestershire's approach to flood preparedness and emergency planning. She outlined GRCC's work supporting volunteer flood wardens and community emergency planning, while emphasizing the importance of inclusivity in resilience efforts. Lucy discussed how disasters amplify existing inequalities and shared practical steps communities can take to prepare for emergencies, including creating personal emergency plans, connecting with local organizations, and ensuring accessible resources and places of safety. The presentation concluded with suggestions for immediate actions communities can take to enhance resilience, such as researching their community, preparing emergency grab bags, and planning engagement events.

Next steps

• Lucy: Send out links to Acre and NAVCA organizations, and contact information for the Community Climate Action Plan toolkit, to attendees after the call.

• Andrew: Send information/materials regarding people being "really connected" and relevant contact details to Charlie Barty King (and potentially others at the Cambridgeshire Association of Local Councils).

• Attendees interested in the Community Climate Action Plan: Contact Lucy via email to request further information and/or access to the toolkit.

Summary

Community Resilience Presentation Overview

Lucy began her presentation on community resilience, apologizing for background noise due to external work activities. She planned to share her screen and proceed with the talk.

Building Inclusive Community Resilience

Lucy, the Community Resilience Officer at GRCC, presented on building inclusive community resilience in Gloucestershire. She explained GRCC's work, including volunteer flood warden schemes, community emergency planning, and a new community climate action plan toolkit. Lucy also highlighted GRCC's broader community development efforts, which support social cohesion and long-term resilience.

Community Resilience and Local Leadership

Lucy discussed the government's definition of community resilience, highlighting the importance of empowering the public to prepare for and recover from disruptive challenges. She emphasized the role of parish and town councils in emergency responses, noting that these local organizations often go unnoticed despite their significant contributions. Lucy also addressed the importance of inclusivity in community resilience, citing how disasters can amplify existing inequalities.

UK Emergency Vulnerability Awareness

Lucy presented statistics and examples highlighting vulnerabilities in the UK population, including language barriers for emergency workers, age-related heat deaths, and increased risk for people with disabilities during emergencies and pandemics. She emphasized the importance of considering these vulnerabilities when creating emergency resources and preparing communities, suggesting actions like providing translated signs and accessible places of safety. Lucy also discussed the need to consider factors like neurodiversity, noting that while it can sometimes lead to communication difficulties, it can also offer unique problem-solving abilities.

Building Inclusive Community Resilience

Lucy presented on emergency planning and community resilience, highlighting how disasters can exacerbate existing inequalities. She discussed various vulnerable groups, including tourists in Gloucestershire's Cotswolds, and outlined steps for building inclusive community resilience. Lucy emphasized the importance of community engagement and research during non-crisis times, suggesting actions like understanding demographics through Inform Gloucestershire and connecting with local partners.

Community Resilience Building Strategies

Lucy discussed strategies for building community resilience, emphasizing the importance of engaging with local organizations, faith groups, and community clubs to understand and support vulnerable populations. She highlighted the need for accessible resources, such as multilingual signs and British Sign Language support, and accessible places of safety, like wheelchair-friendly village halls. Lucy also stressed the importance of personal emergency plans and encouraged people to register on utility companies' priority services registers to ensure they receive support during emergencies.

Community Emergency Planning Strategies

Lucy presented on community emergency planning, outlining key strategies including coordinating with emergency services, establishing community emergency teams, and implementing a buddy system for vulnerable residents. She emphasized the importance of welfare support during emergencies and highlighted the role of local organizations like the Red Cross in providing practical and emotional assistance. Following an emergency, Lucy stressed the need for evaluation and feedback, encouraging communities to assess their response and identify areas for improvement. She concluded by suggesting immediate actions, such as connecting with local organizations and engaging with ACRE members, to build inclusive community resilience.

Community Resilience and Inclusion Steps

Lucy presented on community resilience and inclusion, outlining steps for local councils to prepare for emergencies and engage with their communities. She suggested researching local demographics, preparing emergency grab bags, sharing information about the Priority Services Register, and planning low-cost engagement events. Lucy emphasized taking small steps towards resilience and inclusion, and provided her contact information for further questions.

Community Resilience Planning Strategies

Lucy presented on community resilience and emergency planning, sharing Gloucestershire RCC's experience and tools. Helen from the Resilience Web asked about approaches to persuade councils to change policies for better emergency preparedness, and Lucy suggested engaging with Local Resilience Forums and fostering community interest to channel through councils. Sarah highlighted the importance of parish councils having resilience plans and encouraged Helen to liaise with local authorities. Andrew discussed collaboration efforts in East Anglia and mentioned a need for updated emergency plan templates. Lucy clarified that Gloucestershire RCC offers community resilience support and funding advice through its community development team.

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Contact Information

Lucy Eccles Community Resilience Officer at GRCC

• Email: [email protected]

• Telephone: [phone]

• Website: https://www.grcc.org.uk/

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Chat:

00:15:46 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: How many of the 38 RCCs have a community resilience officer?

00:16:37 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: Good question…I’m just checking Dorset Community Action’s website but can’t see any reference to community resilience (that’s not to say no one is focussing on this)

00:20:17 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: I’m wondering if there are also Community Emergency Volunteers alongside Flood Wardens in Gloucester (CommunitiesPrepared offer CEV training)

00:21:07 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: We have some flood risk guidance on our knowledgebase https://wiki.greatcollaboration.uk/knowledgebase/landscape/great-outdoors/flooding

00:22:06 Belinda Bawden, Dorset Council, TGC, Dorset CAN: Replying to "Good question…I’m ju..."

Hi Rob, Dorset Council is working on this. They allocated an additional £5 mill to flood resilience last night & are developing better ways of working with communities and town/parish councils. There is a Local Resilience Forum already - multi-agency emergency response team with police, emergency services, Dorset Council and local reps - Dorset Local Resilience Forum | Community Resilience Hub | Dorset 00:25:47 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: My observation is that there is lots of good advice out there - sometimes overwhelming / confusing - but literally zero money available to grassroots communities beyond ‘cap-in-hand’ / hit & miss funding applications 00:34:43 Cathy Wynne - Kent: Reacted to "My observation is th..." with 👍 00:37:03 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: Replying to "Good question…I’m ju..."

That sounds really positive Belinda and I’m interested to see how this will play out. Currently DC has 1 officer responsible for community emergency planning across the whole DC area in a team of 5 emergency planning officers which I find baffling 00:41:31 Belinda Bawden, Dorset Council, TGC, Dorset CAN: Replying to "Good question…I’m ju..."

The Sustainability Team is recruiting one now and DC will be pulling other depts to work better together, as well as with external partners 00:42:02 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: Reacted to "The Sustainability T..." with 👍

00:42:19 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: We have one officer in the Forest of Dean District, but I don't know their full workload 00:52:06 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: County associations of town and parish councils may also have some resources - for Gloucestershire see https://gaptc.org.uk/toolkit-intro

00:53:14 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Parish councils are supposed to have an annual meeting for community involvement and feedback 00:56:45 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: The Great Collaboration will be approaching town and parish councils with an updated community emergency plan template, which will include some points from today's presentation - we will run it past some resilience forums as well

00:58:18 Andy Roberts. Bourton on the Water PC: Great presentation. Sorry I've got to leave early. Thanks

01:05:53 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: I need to drop off the call, but thank you so much for today. Andrew, yes Charlie will happily forward your emails to me, or get in touch directly at [email protected].

01:06:40 Belinda Bawden, Dorset Council, TGC, Dorset CAN: Thanks, Lucy & everyone, I have to dive into another meeting 👍

01:07:08 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Reacted to "I need to drop off t..." with 👍

01:08:55 Cathy Wynne - Kent: Many thanks Lucy extremely useful. Cheers Cathy

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Audio-transcript (for AI search index):

134 00:10:56.740 --> 00:11:11.010 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Well, in theory, Lucy, we're about halfway in to the number of people that said they would come, but the magical 5 minutes is up, so I wonder if you'd like to go ahead and start, please? Let us know who you are, and what on earth you're going to talk about.

135 00:11:11.010 --> 00:11:13.629 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Absolutely, no, yeah, in…

136 00:11:13.890 --> 00:11:28.639 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Thank you. So, today I'm going to talk about community resilience, and in particular, inclusive approaches to building community resilience. Before I start, I do want to apologize. The room I've sat in, people have started doing work right outside.

137 00:11:28.710 --> 00:11:41.399 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So apologies if there's any, kind of background noise. If that's a problem, please just raise your hands and I'll try and relocate and see what I can do, but I think it's okay for the moment.

138 00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:42.720 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: You can't hear it now.

139 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:50.580 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Oh, brilliant, thank you. So, if it's okay, I'm gonna try and share my screen now, and hope everything goes to plan.

140 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.720 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Can everybody see that?

141 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:00.690 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Yep.

142 00:12:00.810 --> 00:12:01.880 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yes.

143 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:11.630 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Brilliant, thank you. So yeah, welcome everybody to my, presentation today, where, as I said, I'm going to be talking about specifically community resilience, but

144 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:16.759 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We're going to talk about how we can build inclusive community resilience.

145 00:12:16.770 --> 00:12:33.440 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I'm the Community Resilience Officer at GRCC. For those of you who don't know, GRCC stands for Gloucestershire Rural Community Council. We do tend to just go by GRCC now, because we actually work in

146 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:47.000 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: the urban, boroughs of, Cheltenham and Gloucester as well, so GRCC is a bit more of a, you know, of a sort of generic name, but I appreciate, you know, going by acronyms isn't always,

147 00:12:47.000 --> 00:13:02.309 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: isn't always appropriate. So we sit under the umbrella body of ACOR, which stands for Action with Communities in Rural England. I believe Paul Dixon from Acre has actually done one of these banter sessions before that I

148 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:12.700 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: assisted on, so I know some of you may be familiar with Acre's work. So, for a bit of context, we're one of the local organisations working under Acre.

149 00:13:13.610 --> 00:13:23.150 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, just as a quick overview of what this presentation is going to cover, I'm going to introduce the work that GRCC does in Gloucestershire, before talking about

150 00:13:23.390 --> 00:13:27.420 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Community resilience in a wider national context.

151 00:13:27.490 --> 00:13:33.749 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And then talking about what inclusivity actually is, and how that relates to community resilience.

152 00:13:33.800 --> 00:13:52.110 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Before identifying some points of vulnerability that communities may face in the face of disasters. And then the final bit, which I feel may be the most popular, is what steps can we take now in our community to actually try and foster community resilience?

153 00:13:52.110 --> 00:14:05.920 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: You know, I think in this space, it's very common for people to theorise and talk about ideas, but what can we actually do to make a change today or in the immediate future? So that's what I'm hoping to focus on today.

154 00:14:06.990 --> 00:14:26.150 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, to start off, I'm going to explain a little bit more about who GRCC are. Now, I think it's worth just saying, as an overarching point, we're all about community action. We're all about empowering the community voice, a grassroots approach.

155 00:14:26.300 --> 00:14:50.149 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: fostering kind of collaboration between the voluntary and community sector and the wider public, and that is what all of our work kind of stems from, and the work that we do. Otherwise, we can seem quite an overwhelming and broad charity to a lot of people. So we are a registered charity. We've been helping Gloucestershire's communities since 1923, so

156 00:14:50.150 --> 00:14:52.589 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: a fair while before I was around.

157 00:14:53.780 --> 00:15:11.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We inspire, enable, and deliver community action, and we have teams that cover rural affordable housing, autism and mental health, community development, which is the team that my role as the community resilience Officer sits under,

158 00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:26.260 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: As well as a digital equity team, and a health and wellbeing team. So there's some really, sort of, broad, areas that we work in across Gloucestershire, but all with the combined aim of fostering that community action.

159 00:15:26.370 --> 00:15:46.349 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: As I mentioned, we worked under… we work under the umbrella of Acre as part of one of the 38 rural community councils across England. So there's a nice map on Acre's website, which I'm happy to share after this presentation, of all of the different rural community councils that are currently, acting

160 00:15:46.660 --> 00:15:55.510 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: in England, and it's just quite useful to see, really, so those of you who aren't in Gloucestershire today, where your local rural community council is.

161 00:15:55.630 --> 00:16:07.180 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: As well as working under ACA, we are also a… we're a local infrastructure organization, supporting, voluntary and community sector organisations with, kind of, infrastructural support.

162 00:16:07.210 --> 00:16:18.309 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And so, therefore, we're also a member of NAVCA, which stands for the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action. So hopefully that gives a good background of who we are and what we do.

163 00:16:19.660 --> 00:16:38.669 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So I'm now going to talk about my role in particular. So I've been in post for just over 6 months now, and in those 6 months, I've been very busy going all across Gloucestershire, meeting lots of different people, and working with community resilience in loads of different parishes, and, you know, some smaller villages of

164 00:16:38.670 --> 00:16:47.100 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: only 500 or so people, up to larger towns, such as Tewksbury or Moreton in Marsh, places such as those.

165 00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:55.179 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So what community resilience work do we actually do? Well, my biggest project is probably the volunteer flood warden schemes.

166 00:16:55.370 --> 00:17:14.619 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We run the volunteer flood warden schemes across four districts, and they're funded by local authorities. So our volunteers are insured, and we get funded by, different authorities, including Cotswold District Council, Chute Free Borough Council, Cheltenham, and Stroud as well.

167 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:24.789 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, the flood warden role all stems down to how can, you know, community volunteers help their community prepare for flooding.

168 00:17:24.810 --> 00:17:42.600 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And this can be done by lots of different, sort of, techniques and methods that we encourage and train. And it's all about community engagement, how can we engage our community? This could be from anything from social media, to leafleting.

169 00:17:42.720 --> 00:18:01.880 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Signposting to different organizations who are working in the space. And just generally, sort of, almost translating, you know, some of the quite complex advice that can come down from central government and other agencies into our community, and disseminating that information through, sort of, local connections.

170 00:18:02.010 --> 00:18:06.459 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But as well as the community engagement side of the flood warden role.

171 00:18:06.540 --> 00:18:23.979 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We also encourage volunteer flood wardens to collect evidence and data of the flooding that is happening in their area, so this could be as simple as, you know, logging the block drain that is, you know, is on the corner of the road every other day or every week, depending on,

172 00:18:24.100 --> 00:18:37.560 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: local need, and making a log, and, you know, what actions happened, has this been reported, etc. Just so we, you know, we find that communities can build up a really solid evidence base to then pass on to the relevant authority.

173 00:18:37.560 --> 00:18:48.509 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We also encourage volunteer flood wardens to monitor flood risk in their area where they can. So this isn't anything technical, it's just about monitoring river levels,

174 00:18:48.530 --> 00:18:57.140 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: You know, kind of surface water conditions, existing flood defences, and we provide guidance on how they might safely go about doing that.

175 00:18:57.190 --> 00:19:02.370 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I think it's worth noting that the volunteer floodwater role is incredibly flexible,

176 00:19:02.460 --> 00:19:20.430 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Depending on different areas, you know, a river-lying parish, a flood warden in a river-lying parish will have a very different, role and kind of things that they might be able to do compared to a flood warden on a new development that might get more surface water flooding, for example.

177 00:19:20.590 --> 00:19:31.720 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, aside from volunteer flood wardens, I also offer support with community emergency planning. Now, as I'm sure lots of you are already aware, the government started encouraging

178 00:19:31.870 --> 00:19:48.020 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: people to create community emergency plans after the floods of 2007, really. However, this has recently gained a bit more traction again, and, you know, it's really… we really recommend that communities kind of look into their community and see, what do we actually already have?

179 00:19:48.020 --> 00:19:59.809 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Because often, you know, in the face of emergencies, be that flood event or something like COVID, we often find that, you know, the community really pulls together, and lots of spontaneous volunteers tend to come forward.

180 00:19:59.810 --> 00:20:11.790 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But by putting it into a plan before these events happen, it just enables more efficiency and kind of clear communication between the community and the emergency responders.

181 00:20:12.450 --> 00:20:24.660 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: It's… I work with… it's often parish or town councils, but I also work with some community groups as well to develop these plans, talk about whether they'd like to make one from scratch.

182 00:20:24.660 --> 00:20:40.699 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Or sometimes it's about reviewing their current plans, maybe stuff they haven't thought about. I offer support with recruiting volunteers, for example, if maybe they want to consult their community to see what's already in place.

183 00:20:40.700 --> 00:20:44.900 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And we can help facilitate, such activities

184 00:20:45.280 --> 00:20:50.740 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: As well as, sort of, provide the connections, potentially, to other local organisations.

185 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:59.369 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So some additional work that we also do that all helps with community resilience is we've recently, new for 2026,

186 00:20:59.370 --> 00:21:14.000 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: launched a community climate action plan toolkit. This is specifically geared more towards parish and town councils, although we've had some community groups interested in this as well. This is a… it's a very simple toolkit that,

187 00:21:14.120 --> 00:21:15.569 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: basically helps

188 00:21:15.700 --> 00:21:25.500 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Gather all of the resources that are already acting in a community, and utilize this to sort of make one clear action plan for,

189 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:49.330 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: how they might… the community organization might want to foster engagement in their community, specifically looking at what environmental co-benefits may come out of that plan and that toolkit. So, it may be something as simple as, you know, you've got a lot of people interested in reading in a village, but maybe there's a bit of a, you know, people are struggling to afford

190 00:21:49.340 --> 00:22:10.770 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: books or resources, so setting up a community book swap is a good way to engage the community. It's good for the environment, and it's good for people. So that's an example of how communities might want to come together, to start creating a community climate action plan, and in Gloucestershire, GRCC can help support with this.

191 00:22:11.300 --> 00:22:29.519 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Now, my final point on GRCC's community resilience work is actually about our wider community development work. Although this isn't resilience-focused in the work that I do, my colleagues work with voluntary and community sector organisations, like local organisations.

192 00:22:29.520 --> 00:22:34.840 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: As well as parish and town councils to provide funding advice, governance advice.

193 00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:53.879 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: community engagement advice, and all of these factors kind of, in turn, work to create a wider, more resilient community by fostering that social cohesion and engagement and community spirit at the end of the day. And this all has wider knock-on effects onto resilience in the longer term.

194 00:22:55.250 --> 00:23:13.409 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, I've banged on enough about GRCC's work in Gloucestershire. I'm now going to turn it into a bit more of a national context, and what actually is community resilience? What is the government definition of community resilience? And after searching through the web, this is the definition I found, which…

195 00:23:13.410 --> 00:23:29.990 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: States, community resilience enabled when the public are empowered to harness local resources and expertise to help themselves and their communities to prepare, respond, and recover from disruptive challenges, and to plan and adapt to long-term social and environmental change.

196 00:23:30.120 --> 00:23:38.769 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Now, I think that definition, it does sum it up quite nicely. I can definitely pick a few holes in it, if it were.

197 00:23:38.810 --> 00:23:55.490 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I think it, you know, it doesn't necessarily say it says that the public are empowered, but how do we empower the public? This is extremely subjective and variable across the UK, and at the end of the day, community resilience will mean different things to different people.

198 00:23:55.770 --> 00:24:19.259 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And the work that we do, it's all about going out into communities, listening to what people want, what problems people face, whether that's flooding, or maybe they're worried about, sort of, antisocial behaviour or something completely different, and it's about using what's already there to facilitate community action of what change people actually want to happen.

199 00:24:19.390 --> 00:24:36.990 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So yeah, I think it's important to remember that these terms that I'm discussing today, they can be quite overwhelming to a lot of people, but actually, this is about breaking it down, taking it step by step, and starting off with just listening to the community, and what the community would actually like to see happen.

200 00:24:38.330 --> 00:24:46.559 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, kind of, off a sidetrap from community resilience, I now want to talk about what the role of parish or town councils

201 00:24:46.560 --> 00:25:06.399 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: and community organisations can be in community resilience. So I know lots of you on the call today may be parish councillors, you may be representing a community organization, or even if you're just a resident and you don't necessarily belong to one of these groups, I think it's still important to highlight the strengths

202 00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:13.879 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Of community organisations, and that grassroots-level response, to resilience.

203 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:33.810 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, there was a survey by NALC, so the National Association of Local Councils, and the London School of Economics, that came out in September 2025, and this quotes parish or town councils, actually, as the unsung heroes of emergency response, which I'm sure many of you will be pleased to hear.

204 00:25:33.810 --> 00:25:41.119 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And as part of this report, it states that over 400 parish and town councils found that 80…

205 00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:55.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: 85% provided support during COVID. And I don't think that'll come as a surprise to many of you. I think COVID really showcased what local resources can do and can be.

206 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:13.179 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And I think often the strengths of these local organisations and these non-statutory sector organisations can often get underrepresented… underrepresented, and it's really important to actually showcase. Additionally, this report also found that,

207 00:26:13.230 --> 00:26:27.720 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: rural authorities were actually particularly engaged, and I think that potentially comes down to the sort of small, tight, close communities, tight-knit communities in rural areas compared to larger urban settlements.

208 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:35.970 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And in particular, it was parish and town councils in the southwest and southeast were particularly active, which is another interesting find.

209 00:26:36.130 --> 00:26:47.090 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: However, despite this engagement, it was actually also found that over half of parish and town councils didn't actually have a formal community emergency plan.

210 00:26:47.240 --> 00:27:04.330 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And I think that's a really interesting figure, and it actually shows a bit of a gap where, you know, there's potentially, you know, people to come in and actually start thinking about emergency planning and community emergency planning, as well as spontaneous help in an emergency.

211 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:21.729 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, what are the unique strengths of parish and town councils and community organisations in an emergency? Why are they so special, and why should we be looking at connecting with them? Well, first of all, they provide and represent local perspective of local conditions.

212 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:41.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: The authorities will often be working countywide, sometimes nationally, and they just don't have the capacity and resource to know each local road inside out, whereas that is the specialty of local councils and community organisations. They know their community often inside out.

213 00:27:41.710 --> 00:27:45.740 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, that's a really powerful tool for resilience.

214 00:27:45.810 --> 00:28:02.240 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Equally, the potential to mobilise local volunteers quickly. They're a recognised body, they're a recognised community leaders and coordinators, often. They can represent community need, and they provide that local, local voice.

215 00:28:04.100 --> 00:28:15.449 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, I've talked about, community resilience, and that quite, you know, potentially overwhelming term. I'm now going to throw another overwhelming term into the mix, which is inclusivity.

216 00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:32.650 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, on my presentation, I've written down the Cambridge Dictionary definition of inclusivity, which I think is, you know, it's pretty straightforward, it's pretty simple and straight to the point, which I like. It's all about the fact of including all types of people, things.

217 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:37.390 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And treating them all fairly and equally.

218 00:28:37.760 --> 00:28:45.300 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I mean, it doesn't go into much more detail, but that's what I'll be doing now, so I think hopefully that provides a good starting point on which we can

219 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:46.630 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: develop.

220 00:28:47.820 --> 00:29:00.900 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, why is, community… why is inclusivity important in community resilience? Well, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is the sort of central

221 00:29:01.020 --> 00:29:19.159 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: UN body that, gives advice and support with disaster risk reduction internationally, states the disasters do not affect everyone equally. They amplify existing inequalities linked to gender, age, disability, income, and other factors.

222 00:29:19.270 --> 00:29:31.639 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I think this idea that disasters, they don't necessarily create inequalities, although they can. It's all about they amplify and accentuate those existing inequalities.

223 00:29:31.710 --> 00:29:37.049 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And it's not any wonder, really, because disasters are the time where, as

224 00:29:37.110 --> 00:29:43.929 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: People, as humans, we're often most vulnerable. There are times of panic, stress, and they can even, kind of.

225 00:29:43.930 --> 00:30:01.740 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: make people who wouldn't necessarily consider themselves to be vulnerable, it can make them vulnerable, you know, for whatever reason, linked to a crisis. But they're times of panic and stress, and so it's not any wonder that these existing inequalities are actually,

226 00:30:01.820 --> 00:30:04.700 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: You know, made, made bigger.

227 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:22.299 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: However, it's important to recognise and address these intersecting risks and vulnerabilities, and this is really essential in building resilient, inclusive, and fair and just societies in the face of increasing disasters.

228 00:30:25.090 --> 00:30:36.399 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, that was the, sort of, international perspective, which is still very much relevant to the UK. However, I thought, for the benefit of this presentation, which is obviously,

229 00:30:36.510 --> 00:30:38.590 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: UK-focused.

230 00:30:38.690 --> 00:30:55.450 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: would be to put forward a bit of a case for the UK. Like, you know, we know that inclusivity is important in resilience worldwide, but why is it important in the UK? And so I've got a few statistics here which I think are quite powerful, really, in showing this case.

231 00:30:55.450 --> 00:31:07.640 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And these are as follows. So, 1 in 5 emergency workers in the UK encounter language barriers on a daily basis, and this directly affects the provision of care that they're able to provide.

232 00:31:08.630 --> 00:31:23.320 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And so that is a clear disadvantage for people that may come into this country not speaking fluent English, for whatever reason, and that they're, you know, how this can really inhibit access to resources.

233 00:31:23.600 --> 00:31:41.759 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Similarly, in 2024, 57% of heat-associated deaths occurred in those aged over 85. I mean, as much as that might not necessarily come as a surprise, it still shows how vulnerable that age group is to heat and heat waves.

234 00:31:41.760 --> 00:31:48.460 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And how that is… it's really important to consider age as a factor when talking about, heat emergencies.

235 00:31:48.590 --> 00:31:59.159 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Furthermore, almost half of Grenfell fire deaths were people with disabilities and children, highlighting, these categories of people as particularly vulnerable.

236 00:31:59.480 --> 00:32:09.049 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: In the UK, lower-income households are less likely to report storm or flood damage to their homes, and may be less likely to have contents insurance.

237 00:32:09.050 --> 00:32:20.010 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So that's all about how we spread awareness of reporting techniques, insurance, and other flood preparedness, and response

238 00:32:20.100 --> 00:32:24.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: ideas, into society. I think, you know, I mean, it's…

239 00:32:24.430 --> 00:32:37.670 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: These reporting tools aren't necessarily always the most simple, they can be quite complicated, and so it's really important that we kind of share this information on an equal footing so people are able to access this.

240 00:32:38.250 --> 00:33:00.350 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And finally, people with disabilities accounted for approximately 6 out of every 10 deaths related to COVID-19 in the UK. Now, again, although this might not necessarily come as a surprise, people with disabilities are understandably maybe at increased risk of contracting different viruses or disease. However, it just shows

241 00:33:00.350 --> 00:33:02.540 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Quite how significant, and…

242 00:33:02.860 --> 00:33:11.880 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: You know, disability is in the factor of pandemic. And what can we do as a community to protect our vulnerable people?

243 00:33:13.670 --> 00:33:31.009 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, I'm now going to go through some factors that you may want to consider when identifying vulnerable people in your community, thinking about inclusive resilience. I'm very aware that this is a very long and overwhelming risk.

244 00:33:31.210 --> 00:33:51.660 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And I'm not… I'm not asking people to think about every single one of these in extreme detail, but it's just having them in the back of your mind when dealing with the public, when creating resources to go out in emergencies, you know, have you thought about whether your place of safety is accessible to people who might use wheelchairs?

245 00:33:51.660 --> 00:33:52.510 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And…

246 00:33:52.510 --> 00:34:03.099 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you know, are you communicating things in an appropriate way? Do you have a large population of non-English speaking people in your community? Would it be worth,

247 00:34:03.100 --> 00:34:15.370 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Having some translated versions of signs to make this accessible, and just thinking about all of these individual factors when you can to try and best prepare your community.

248 00:34:15.989 --> 00:34:27.210 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, I mean, these may not be applicable to every single emergency, and in fact, some factors may not always be a vulnerability. For example.

249 00:34:27.260 --> 00:34:38.649 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you've got a factor such as neurodiversity, which is, you know, one of those buzzwords, I think, that is… can be thrown around a lot, and so that encompasses people with autism.

250 00:34:38.699 --> 00:34:43.309 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: or ADHD, and although in some circumstances,

251 00:34:43.820 --> 00:35:06.380 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: this can sort of lead to communication difficulties and, kind of additional communication needs. In other circumstances, this can also help people think outside the box and, you know, could be a really valuable tool in emergency planning. So it's not necessarily that all of these things mean that, you know, these people will always be more vulnerable, it's all about context.

252 00:35:06.380 --> 00:35:12.330 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And thinking about things when they come up, and how you might go about

253 00:35:12.720 --> 00:35:18.750 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: dealing with a situation. However, as we've said in previous slides.

254 00:35:18.980 --> 00:35:34.910 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: disasters and crises will accentuate existing inequalities in a community, and so these factors, such as… so we've got physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive function impairment, so your sort of psychosocial.

255 00:35:35.140 --> 00:35:37.340 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: impairments.

256 00:35:37.340 --> 00:36:02.300 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: medical conditions, older people, young people, people that are pregnant, gender, LGBTQ plus people, maybe at more of a risk, particularly if they've been sort of shunned from the wider society. They may not feel comfortable seeking support. You've got minority language speakers, people with other communication needs. I mentioned autism.

257 00:36:02.300 --> 00:36:04.010 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: an example before.

258 00:36:04.010 --> 00:36:11.120 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: You've then got asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants, people in the traveling community.

259 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:15.850 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Those in sheltered housing are on the periphery of adult social care.

260 00:36:15.850 --> 00:36:33.799 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And finally, I think the last one is particularly interesting, as tourists. You know, you might not… tourists may not necessarily consider themselves to be stereotypically vulnerable. However, if you're coming into an area and you don't have that local knowledge of the systems in that area.

261 00:36:34.940 --> 00:36:45.579 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: it does make you vulnerable, and I think in Gloucestershire in particularly, I know we've got Andy from Borton on the call, tourism is a massive factor in, particularly in the Cotswolds.

262 00:36:45.580 --> 00:36:55.279 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And actually, you know, how do we consider tourists, and how do we manage tourists in an emergency situation is really key.

263 00:36:56.530 --> 00:37:06.819 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So I've now banged on about all of the theory, I've hopefully explained resilience and inclusivity and how they interlink, in a… oops, sorry.

264 00:37:06.870 --> 00:37:27.370 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: in an easy-to-understand and hopefully not too overwhelming way. But I know what a lot of people want to hear and want to take away is what steps can we actually do? What can we do today, tomorrow, over the next few months? What can we put into our plans, our policies?

265 00:37:27.370 --> 00:37:34.710 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: To try and make resilience inclusive, and trying to build community resilience, you know, from the get-go.

266 00:37:34.710 --> 00:37:41.369 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So hopefully, I think, you know, I tried to pick a range of different photos on this slide to really accentuate,

267 00:37:41.590 --> 00:37:56.819 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: different… different actions people can take, but I am going to go through them in more, in more consideration here. So, this slide is talking through the day-to-day considerations. This is imagining, you know.

268 00:37:57.120 --> 00:38:03.240 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We're not in a crisis situation. There are no flood alerts. It's, you know, if you like, normal times.

269 00:38:03.240 --> 00:38:20.419 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: what can we do? I think people have a tendency to switch off outside of emergencies. We don't necessarily want to hear about all the horrible things such as pandemics and floods and climate change, you know, when they're not… we're not being directly affected.

270 00:38:20.420 --> 00:38:36.749 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But it's actually a really crucial time to get some of that planning done, to engage your community, to learn more about your community and what's going on. And I've listed some points here that you may want to consider.

271 00:38:36.910 --> 00:38:46.260 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: when, you know, outside of an emergency. So, to kick off, we've got researching and understanding your community. Now, this can be

272 00:38:46.260 --> 00:38:58.380 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: anything from just, you know, googling your parish, your demographics, you know, you've got resources such as census data, and I know in Gloucestershire we've got Inform Gloucestershire.

273 00:38:58.590 --> 00:39:03.939 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Which is a county council initiative, and you can look up your parish profile.

274 00:39:03.940 --> 00:39:18.820 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: which gives, kind of, demographic data about who's in your community. I don't know if that's something that, you know, might be… might be, rolled out wider, and not just in Gloucestershire, but definitely something that's worth having a look.

275 00:39:18.820 --> 00:39:37.270 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Connecting with local partners, so I've talked a lot about voluntary and community sector organisations. You know, you may well find organisations working in your local area that you didn't know existed, and I think connecting with them, finding out the groups of people that they work with.

276 00:39:37.640 --> 00:39:52.200 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: and how they support is really important. I think quite often when I'm talking to communities about their emergency plan, and I'll mention this, I'll mention the value of working with other organisations.

277 00:39:52.200 --> 00:40:00.889 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: they won't necessarily, think of, kind of… I'm talking about organizations in the widest sense, so your faith organisations.

278 00:40:00.890 --> 00:40:18.509 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: like, your local vicar may have really good connections with the community and know how about, particularly, you know, the more vulnerable people who may come to their place of worship for support. I'm talking about, kind of, creative organisations, art groups, knitting circles, book clubs.

279 00:40:18.510 --> 00:40:26.160 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Sports, clubs, all of these places that people come for, sort of, respite from, you know, their day-to-day working life.

280 00:40:26.370 --> 00:40:39.610 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And these groups can often have a really good connection and knowledge of the local community, so connecting with them to understand more about your community is a really good way of starting to build that resilience.

281 00:40:39.940 --> 00:40:48.199 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Following on from this engagement, you know, what engagement activities could we run, whether that's a, you know, a summer fake, or a,

282 00:40:48.430 --> 00:40:56.019 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you know, a kind of an information evening in the village hall. It can be whatever is most relevant to your community.

283 00:40:56.220 --> 00:41:04.219 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And then talking about accessibility, we've then got accessible signage, other resources, and accessible places of safety.

284 00:41:04.330 --> 00:41:23.979 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: in times when you're not in crisis, it's the best times to start, you know, kind of dotting the I's and crossing the T's on these sorts of things. So, you know, have you got those accessible resources ready? You know, if you need… if there's a large non-English speaking population, have you got signs in different languages?

285 00:41:23.980 --> 00:41:31.899 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And do you have any connections with people that know British Sign Language, and could they be of support in an emergency, for example?

286 00:41:32.180 --> 00:41:38.760 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Accessible places of safety are things you often may already be thinking about in community buildings.

287 00:41:38.760 --> 00:41:54.029 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, you know, is your village hall got wheelchair access? Does it have a disabled toilet? If not, are there any pots of funding you could tap into to help, facilitate this and help facilitate the accessibility needs?

288 00:41:54.050 --> 00:42:07.210 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: It's thinking about all of these different things, and just step-by-step, thinking about what your community already has, and what may be a good idea to either invest in, or just learn more about.

289 00:42:07.690 --> 00:42:26.320 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: The next step is human-centered approach to crisis preparedness. Now, this is all about getting and hearing local voices. It means that organisations and systems empower people to prepare personalized solutions before

290 00:42:26.550 --> 00:42:32.019 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: An emergency, which links on to the next point about personal emergency plans.

291 00:42:32.200 --> 00:42:49.950 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: It's… as well as having community-wide emergency plans, it's a great idea to encourage people to make their own personal plans, so they can think about things such as personal medication that they might need, you know, even for thinking about children, you know.

292 00:42:50.020 --> 00:43:00.640 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Things as simple as packing their comfort blanket or their, you know, a cuddly toy for them in an emergency grab bag can really help just, you know, keep morale and

293 00:43:00.750 --> 00:43:15.800 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: account for different individuals' needs in an emergency. It doesn't have to be anything technical. And on the community level, I don't necessarily think it should be anything technical. It's all about using what you already have with the limited funds that… that we do have.

294 00:43:16.280 --> 00:43:37.940 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And the last one there, it's kind of linking onto that personal emergency plans, is the priority services register. So, each utility company will have a priority services register, and if you are vulnerable and eligible to apply, it's really important that you do. This means that, for example, if there's a water outage.

295 00:43:38.140 --> 00:43:52.690 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: if you're vulnerable, and this could affect you disproportionately compared to other members of the community, you will get prioritized, and so this is something I share often with, like, my volunteer flood wardens and,

296 00:43:52.760 --> 00:44:01.390 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: the communities I work with on emergency planning is to sign up and get people to sign up to the Priority Services Register and spread that awareness.

297 00:44:03.580 --> 00:44:11.649 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, the next slide I'm going to talk about is during an emergency. So, we've talked about in the before phase, in that… those normal times.

298 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:29.299 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But during an emergency, how can we keep that inclusive community resilience going? So, we've got accessible messaging, which is similar to the accessible resources and signs that I talked about before, and again, ensuring places of safety are accessible.

299 00:44:29.300 --> 00:44:45.590 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I think this point is slightly different to the accessible places of safety on the previous slide. In the… in an emergency situation, say a flood, places of safety may become inaccessible, so you may have, you know, a wheelchair access ramp.

300 00:44:45.590 --> 00:44:59.919 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But, you know, if a tree's come down, this may not then be accessible. And this is not presuming that people in your community can then get rid of that tree, or debris, or whatever, but it's about highlighting that as a key point and a key…

301 00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:07.070 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Thing that needs to be dealt with, and then translating this and communicating this to the people that can

302 00:45:07.070 --> 00:45:26.170 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: do that task. So, you know, whether that's the emergency services or potentially, you know, a local volunteer, such as a local farmer, if that's something you're able to tap into. But in particular, highlighting, you know, that access problem to the emergency services is a key role that,

303 00:45:26.290 --> 00:45:28.289 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Communities can play.

304 00:45:28.380 --> 00:45:42.060 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Finally, again, coordinating with local partners and emergency responders, so, if you have got a sort of a group in your community that takes a bit of a lead on a community emergency response, so often I encourage

305 00:45:42.060 --> 00:45:49.369 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: people to have a bit of a community emergency team. You know, having that communication with local partners is absolutely key.

306 00:45:49.370 --> 00:45:52.749 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And knowing when to signpost and escalate a situation.

307 00:45:52.990 --> 00:46:09.650 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: the community emergency planning does in no way take away the responsibility from those statutory organisations. It's all about using what we already have, and it's actually knowing when to signpost and escalate a situation is a key skill to have.

308 00:46:09.790 --> 00:46:23.680 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: To obviously look after the welfare of the community emergency team and the community, but make sure things are done safely and appropriately in the system. And so knowing when to escalate that is key.

309 00:46:24.270 --> 00:46:40.599 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I've then put adopting a buddy system, so with… particularly with vulnerable people in your area who may not be comfortable to sort of go about things by themselves, potentially connecting them with local neighbours who are willing to help and support is a really good option.

310 00:46:40.600 --> 00:46:45.919 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And then finally, welfare support. As we've already established, and we all know,

311 00:46:46.060 --> 00:46:58.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Emergencies are extremely stressful and anxiety-inducing situations for everybody, particularly those most vulnerable. So, just offering that welfare support is a really key way that we can

312 00:46:58.670 --> 00:47:01.569 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Help and support people in an emergency.

313 00:47:01.940 --> 00:47:14.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So then finally, we've got after emergency, and these are all similar points to the previously mentioned points, but it's all about the evaluation and the feedback, and the aftermath, and the clear-up of the emergency.

314 00:47:14.310 --> 00:47:31.629 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So again, connecting with those local organisations to provide practical or emotional support, you know, this is what organisations such as the Red Cross or Victim Support, you know, this is what they do, this is their bread and butter, and utilize that is the, you know, is a really good,

315 00:47:31.750 --> 00:47:34.489 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: It's a really good thing to tap into.

316 00:47:34.570 --> 00:47:54.349 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Encouraging and supporting people with taking photos of damage for insurance claims, or reporting to authorities. Again, you know, people may not… a lot of things are online at the moment, and you may have people in your community who don't feel comfortable, kind of using their phone to do stuff like that, so, you know, providing that help and support.

317 00:47:54.350 --> 00:47:55.690 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Where you can.

318 00:47:55.780 --> 00:48:06.099 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Regularly checking in and offering emotional reassurance is absolutely key. Like I said, the mental health impacts of emergencies are, you know, can be really severe.

319 00:48:06.610 --> 00:48:31.519 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Assisting with cleanup where possible, and arranging professional help when necessary is absolutely important. And finally, I've got that human-centered approach again, and that's all about, hearing local perspectives, you know, keeping things personal, and, you know, how did it affect people in your community, and how can we, encourage change, and, you know, what things need to be changed?

320 00:48:31.520 --> 00:48:39.610 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you know, in your plan. Are there volunteers that came forward that maybe you didn't know about, or,

321 00:48:39.760 --> 00:48:45.270 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you know, other resources that we didn't have that would be useful. It's all about evaluation.

322 00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:52.610 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, finally, and this is my last slide, as I'm sure you'll all be sick of hearing me talk now,

323 00:48:53.020 --> 00:49:07.880 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: But I'll quite often do presentations such as this, where I'll be talking about emergency plans, and people will want to know what they can do today, what you can do right now that can then affect change, you know, in the next few days, and those low-hanging fruit, if you will.

324 00:49:07.890 --> 00:49:17.100 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And I've tried to list a few here, which I think are hopefully accessible to most of you on the call today, that, you know, with…

325 00:49:17.400 --> 00:49:23.410 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Limited funds available, you know, time capacity increasingly being stretched, and…

326 00:49:23.470 --> 00:49:36.289 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We all want those, sort of, those quick wins to help us, kind of, gain momentum, and particularly when it comes to quite a complex and overwhelming topic, such as building inclusive community resilience.

327 00:49:36.330 --> 00:49:42.659 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, the first key ones that I've written down here are connecting with your local organisations.

328 00:49:42.660 --> 00:50:04.710 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And a really good way to do this is to get in touch with your local ACA member, so Action for Community and Rural England member, such as GRCC in Gloucestershire, or similarly, a local NAVCA member, who may be able to offer support. Now, I'll send out the links to these organisations after this call.

329 00:50:04.990 --> 00:50:24.150 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So you can all go and have a look and see what support is being on… is available on offer in your local area. It's a really great way to sort of, you know, get in contact with people that are already doing lots of this work in your area, and, you know, and it can essentially save a lot of legwork on your behalf.

330 00:50:24.560 --> 00:50:31.530 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Secondly, you know, starting to research your community, like, look at that census data,

331 00:50:31.630 --> 00:50:47.939 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: you know, look at your parish profile if you can find one, you know, read news articles and see what is going about. You know, word of mouth, have conversations with people, see what your community wants to see happen, see what's most important to them.

332 00:50:47.940 --> 00:50:56.440 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And see what needs might come about. You know, are… do you have, a large, like, migrant population?

333 00:50:56.440 --> 00:51:06.990 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Do you have a significant elderly population, or are there a lot of young families, and how can we adapt our emergency response to fit this?

334 00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:24.469 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And then next, starting to prepare an emergency grab bag. So this is just a personal bag that you have that, you know, might have a first aid kit, as we can see on the screen there. First aid kit, high-vis, you know, a torch.

335 00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:33.089 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: whatever you need. I mentioned, you know, if you've got young children, having some toys in there, it might seem silly, but it can actually be really important in just

336 00:51:33.340 --> 00:51:41.870 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: keeping calm and, you know, and being able to manage the situation the best you can. And this is why preparation is so important.

337 00:51:42.650 --> 00:52:02.119 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: sharing information about the Priority Services Register is a great way to just, you know, start off providing support to your vulnerable residents, making sure that they're on that register, and that they will get seen to as fast as they can by the authorities, and in the case of a power outage or

338 00:52:02.120 --> 00:52:12.509 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: or, you know, a water outage. And this is particularly key if you have people whose, potentially, their medical equipment relies on electricity, for example.

339 00:52:12.920 --> 00:52:18.859 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And finally, planning a low-cost engagement event is a great way

340 00:52:18.860 --> 00:52:38.130 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: To, you know, to sort of start fostering that engagement. I mean, this could be anything from an online event, if that's relevant to your community, you know, some leaflet dropping, doing a drop-in at a community center or a village hall to, you know, to signpost people and give people advice.

341 00:52:38.130 --> 00:52:53.100 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Or even, you know, giving a talk with a local society, or sports club, or art club, or whatever, just to start, engaging people in resilience, looking at what's already happening, and,

342 00:52:53.350 --> 00:52:56.489 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: What might want to be done in the future.

343 00:52:57.030 --> 00:53:02.390 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, thanks for listening to my presentation today, and I hope that

344 00:53:02.580 --> 00:53:19.450 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: has been of interest, and has provided you with lots of things to think about, and hopefully not, you know, been too overwhelming. I know, resilience and inclusion can both be, quite difficult topics to think about. However, I think my leaving,

345 00:53:19.570 --> 00:53:26.980 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: my, you know, I want my leaving statement to be that you do not have to do everything I've mentioned on these PowerPoints. It's about taking small steps

346 00:53:26.980 --> 00:53:47.460 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: towards resilience and, you know, doing what we can, when we can, with the funding and time we have available. And, you know, that one more community building that's made accessible, or, you know, one interaction with a sign language interpreter and getting them on board, it just takes one step to make that a little bit more inclusive.

347 00:53:47.480 --> 00:53:54.210 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And so I hope that has been helpful. My contact details are on the presentation there.

348 00:53:54.270 --> 00:53:58.679 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So, yeah, please, please have a look and get in contact with me if,

349 00:53:59.000 --> 00:54:02.039 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: If you need anything. I know, I'm happy to take some questions, I'm…

350 00:54:02.340 --> 00:54:07.550 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I know I've only got about 10 minutes left, and I don't know if there's anything in the chat, but yeah.

351 00:54:07.800 --> 00:54:08.660 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No.

352 00:54:09.550 --> 00:54:12.860 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Lucy, thank you so much, that was…

353 00:54:12.910 --> 00:54:30.849 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: really, really impressive, actually. So practical, so helpful, and so informative for people who may not have started thinking about this yet, so thank you very much. If you could kindly stop sharing your screen, Lucy, then we'd be able to see all the people with questions.

354 00:54:30.850 --> 00:54:36.059 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: The first one I can see is from Helen Cook. So, Helen, Peter, go ahead.

355 00:54:36.650 --> 00:54:46.620 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: Hi, thanks, Lucy, for your presentation, that was great. I'm part of an organization called, the Resilience Web, and we're…

356 00:54:46.880 --> 00:55:04.949 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: we do a lot of things. We're an online directory, and we also run events in person, which we're doing currently with an event series called How Resilient Is Cambridge, specifically looking at 6 topics in Cambridge, and we're… we're specifically interested, actually, in the not low-hanging fruit.

357 00:55:04.950 --> 00:55:07.969 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: Right? And, like, how can we… how can we…

358 00:55:08.370 --> 00:55:18.619 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: persuade councils to change policies that are going to, you know, better help us be prepared for the emergencies that we know are coming.

359 00:55:18.850 --> 00:55:20.920 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: And my question for you is.

360 00:55:21.530 --> 00:55:32.559 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: what's the best way to approach councils, to try to have these sorts of things changed? So, for example, like, with flooding, to become more of a sponge city.

361 00:55:32.560 --> 00:55:45.749 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: You know, to discourage paving, with food, perhaps to encourage more food banks, implement more food stores. All of these sorts of things, that could potentially help.

362 00:55:45.760 --> 00:55:46.520 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: So…

363 00:55:46.870 --> 00:55:57.249 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No, yeah, that's a really, good question, Helen, and I think, yeah, it's a big question, there's lots of things that could be done. I think, off the top of my head,

364 00:55:57.290 --> 00:56:13.360 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: particularly from my experience in Gloucestershire, the first thing I'd mention is that when it comes to emergency planning in particular, this all will happen within the realm of the LRF, so I don't know if you're familiar with the Local Resilience Forum.

365 00:56:13.360 --> 00:56:24.190 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah. Yeah, and so I don't know if you kind of are connected in with them about resilience, but it would be great, I think that's a great place to start when it comes to, you know, kind of operational…

366 00:56:24.390 --> 00:56:38.049 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: capabilities and what is happening. With regards to policy changes, obviously that will happen on a, on a sort of, like, a political basis, essentially, and I think, you know.

367 00:56:38.140 --> 00:56:45.809 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Getting change from central government and local government at the end is probably one of the most challenging things that, you know, we're constantly,

368 00:56:46.370 --> 00:57:01.319 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: kind of, you know, kind of butting up on. To be honest, I think from the work that we do and the perspective that we can provide, gaining that community engagement and that interest from the community and from the grassroots level.

369 00:57:01.320 --> 00:57:18.879 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: is a really good way of fostering engagement and interest, and then kind of channeling that through district councillors or county councillors to then advocate for that change at a higher level. That's certainly what we kind of try and

370 00:57:19.140 --> 00:57:27.879 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: encourage our volunteers, for example, to do. Because, you know, as a charity, we're apolitical, we have to remain neutral.

371 00:57:27.910 --> 00:57:35.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: when it comes to policies. However, I'm always sharing, kind of, different consultations with my volunteers.

372 00:57:35.280 --> 00:57:51.130 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: and kind of encouraging education and engagement from the wider community, so then hopefully that channels up, if that makes sense. And it's all about, the work we do is all about bottom-up and getting community voices heard.

373 00:57:51.130 --> 00:57:54.379 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I hope that… I hope that helps and… and makes sense.

374 00:57:54.380 --> 00:57:57.669 Helen Cook - Resilience Web Cambridge: Yeah, that is really helpful. Yeah, thank you for that.

375 00:57:57.870 --> 00:57:58.800 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: It's okay.

376 00:57:59.800 --> 00:58:02.050 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Okay, Sarah, please.

377 00:58:02.050 --> 00:58:17.589 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: Thank you. You have, the previous lady, you've, just covered it, actually, but I'll raise it anyway. Local resilience forums. In Kent, we have a very active Kent Resilience Forum.

378 00:58:17.740 --> 00:58:29.269 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: And in my area, which is, at the moment, Tunbridge and Morling, there is an officer that comes around to speak to parish councils about, their resilience planning.

379 00:58:29.440 --> 00:58:39.459 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: And we're encouraging all parish councils to get, from a very simple to however complex they want it to be, a resilience plan in place.

380 00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:53.660 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: It's slow, but I would certainly, encourage Helen from, the Cambridge Web that, or the Resilience Web, rather, to also liaise with their local ALC for,

381 00:58:54.100 --> 00:58:57.189 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: Parish council, buy-in as well.

382 00:58:59.280 --> 00:59:05.280 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Absolutely, Sarah, and a really, really important point. And in Gloucestershire, I think we have a…

383 00:59:05.490 --> 00:59:11.150 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: I'd say we have a pretty good, actually, relationship between the Local Resilience Forum and those,

384 00:59:11.310 --> 00:59:17.930 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Those legal, you know, the people with the legal duties to respond in an emergency and ultimately protect life.

385 00:59:17.930 --> 00:59:42.910 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: and the voluntary sector. I personally, representing GRCC, sit on… we have a few subgroups, so we've got a voluntary sector subgroup where, you know, people such as the British Red Cross and React, as well as, like, local organisations, all come together to discuss how the voluntary sector can support, you know, with that and what those more local connections, how they can support, the statute

386 00:59:42.910 --> 00:59:47.839 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: responders. And then, as well, we also have a community resilience subgroup,

387 00:59:47.900 --> 00:59:51.490 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Which kind of works with, again, how we can

388 00:59:51.540 --> 01:00:08.980 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: interact with the community and collaborate with organisations such as ourselves who have those local connections, and like you say, working with the district council, emergency planning officers, for example, to encourage parish and town councils and other community groups

389 01:00:08.980 --> 01:00:21.289 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: in non-perished areas, for example, to actually create emergency plans and offer support with that. I think, I know in Gloucestershire, there's been quite a good,

390 01:00:21.420 --> 01:00:34.740 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: feedback by having us as a… as a charity, an impartial body, having that influence, I think a lot of people will be quite hesitant, when it comes to dealing with the district council, but

391 01:00:34.740 --> 01:00:59.429 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: by having it as a sort of additional support, and being able to run workshops, for example, on specific points. So, I've talked about inclusivity a lot today. We kind of… we can run, like, specific workshops on different things people have interests in with regards to resilience, and yeah, we've had a lot of positive feedback about that, and I know there's lots of other organizations, such as Communities

392 01:00:59.430 --> 01:01:08.220 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: which I'm sure you might be familiar with, working in that, and yeah, I think that can be a really valuable, resource to tap into.

393 01:01:11.230 --> 01:01:12.120 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: Thank you.

394 01:01:12.500 --> 01:01:13.769 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Andrew, your turn.

395 01:01:13.770 --> 01:01:20.420 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Thank you. Well done, Lucy, that was cracking. And very good to meet you the other day in person as well.

396 01:01:20.450 --> 01:01:37.819 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Cambridgeshire, we've been doing great collaboration, doing a lot of work in East Anglo. I was actually speaking to somebody at the Cambridgeshire Association of Local Councils only yesterday. Seems like only yesterday. So I will send stuff that we're pulling together around people really connected. Helen, we've got…

397 01:01:37.820 --> 01:01:40.840 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: came in a contact somebody called Charlie Barty King, is he…

398 01:01:40.840 --> 01:01:45.530 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: So I'll probably… he's the email contact I've got already, so he…

399 01:01:45.530 --> 01:01:59.109 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: He can run, but he can't hide. I'll send it to him. The other question was that, Lucy, you mentioned a Climate Action Toolkit. Is this the same toolkit that the county association that GDBC published, or is it a different one?

400 01:01:59.110 --> 01:02:11.430 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No, it's a different one, so it's, it's our… it's our own, like, personal toolkit from GRCC that we're offering. It's focused in Gloucestershire specifically, so it's,

401 01:02:11.600 --> 01:02:25.460 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: it's just for Gloucestershire communities, and it's also kind of using the networks that we have and the support we can offer. Like I said, we can have discussions with local

402 01:02:25.780 --> 01:02:49.110 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: organizations, to sort of work with them and offer support on, community consultation, consultation facilitation, we can offer. And it's all… it's kind of… it's about, you know, using what's already happening in the community and helping them essentially get everything lined up, and that… that's the support that we can offer with the Community Climate Action Plan.

403 01:02:49.570 --> 01:02:53.270 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Is that something that's successful through your website, or do they need to be in touch with you?

404 01:02:53.270 --> 01:03:00.089 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: No, they have to… it'll have to be in touch with us. I mean, like I said, it's just, it's newly launched, actually, in 2026,

405 01:03:00.150 --> 01:03:12.120 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: we've done a few information sessions for Gloucestershire Parish and Town Councils, and yeah, it's kind of… we're seeing what the… what the, feedback would be like, but yeah, it's newly launched, and they are to…

406 01:03:12.120 --> 01:03:26.769 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: to access it, they'll need to be contacted by us. There's… I believe there's some information on our website, but I'm happy to send out, email addresses and stuff. If you drop me an email, anybody who's interested on the call, drop me an email, then I'm happy to have a conversation.

407 01:03:27.440 --> 01:03:43.009 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: I mean, Gloucestershire County Council as a body was a little bit slow off the mark on some of these issues, but it's now picked up speed, and it's got a network. When they started, they didn't include the town and parish councils in there, but anyway, that's now been fixed.

408 01:03:43.570 --> 01:03:46.490 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: not by me, I hate his dad, by somebody else, but,

409 01:03:46.970 --> 01:03:58.629 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Every county's different, and I imagine every resilience Forum is going to be different as well. We looked into, back in the saying, we looked at what templates for emergency planning were being used.

410 01:03:58.930 --> 01:04:17.199 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: And for Norfolk, they've got one which is not dissimilar, but slightly changed from the government template, which was published in 2016. The one… Essex Resilience Forum, we're using one from Nottinghamshire. So, what that tells me… well, that's fine. What that tells me is there isn't an updated

411 01:04:17.220 --> 01:04:30.989 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: template is covering a lot of the hazards which the government is now beginning to publicize separately, that could be useful across the piece, and that… so we're going to speak to some resilience forums in East Angua as well to see… get their views on this.

412 01:04:31.960 --> 01:04:32.990 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Oh.

413 01:04:33.310 --> 01:04:35.990 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Because everywhere is different, everywhere will have different,

414 01:04:36.470 --> 01:04:46.229 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: issues, but I mean, wildflowers, droughts, floods, you know, all of these things are as likely to happen to any of us now. You know, heat waves, certainly.

415 01:04:46.280 --> 01:04:52.809 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And, you know, government has published it in one place, but it's not put it in the emergency plan template, so…

416 01:04:52.810 --> 01:04:54.190 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: We're joining the dots.

417 01:04:55.710 --> 01:04:59.849 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Lucy, I'm just going through any questions in the chat.

418 01:04:59.980 --> 01:05:12.760 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And one of them is asking, just how unique are you? In other words, how many of the other RCCs have a community resilience Officer? Do you find that you're all on your own, or are you just one of many?

419 01:05:13.120 --> 01:05:31.960 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: So there's… I know… I know for a fact there's… there's multiple. I can't, off the top of my head, say how many specifically there are. However, I know that if you go onto your local RCC's website, it will clearly say the support that they offer, and if, you know, if it still is a bit uncertain, then,

420 01:05:32.200 --> 01:05:49.890 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: definitely get in touch with them and see. I know… I mean, community resilience, like I said, is my role's kind of… is on its own. It's very specific, but community development, you know, on a wider level is absolutely… is widespread across the RCCs.

421 01:05:49.890 --> 01:05:55.399 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: And lots of RCCs are able to offer funding and governance advice,

422 01:05:55.740 --> 01:06:08.760 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: support with, you know, running community buildings, for example, connecting with your local volunteering community sector organization, so absolutely get in touch with them. And I know that, like, I believe in,

423 01:06:08.900 --> 01:06:22.129 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Oxfordshire and, some other places, I can't think off the top of my head. There are definitely commuter Resilience officers, you know, about, and definitely have a look on the website and see what support they offer.

424 01:06:22.690 --> 01:06:36.979 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Well, I think you've also, in there, answered another point from Rob Cheeseman in Dorset, which was, there's lots of advice, but no indication of funding. But you were saying that the GRCC or other RCCs may well have information about funding.

425 01:06:36.980 --> 01:06:41.929 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, so we can, like I said, we're a charity and require funding to,

426 01:06:42.300 --> 01:06:52.750 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: to run ourselves. Like I said, I'm… most of my role tends to be funded by the local authority, but we can also offer chargeable services on, like, bespoke basis.

427 01:06:52.770 --> 01:07:17.749 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: We can offer… so, yeah, my colleagues in the community development team offer funding advice to local community organisations, and, you know, they can kind of… they can't write your funding applications for you, but they can be a critical friend to funding applications and sort of help, assist where necessary. So, yeah, we offer a lot of that kind of support to small grassroots organisations

428 01:07:17.750 --> 01:07:23.569 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: in Gloucestershire, and I know there's been lots of really positive feedback to the team.

429 01:07:24.670 --> 01:07:33.629 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Right. Well, I don't see any other hands raised, so let me say again, thank you so much for what I think is going to be one of those

430 01:07:33.630 --> 01:07:45.619 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: lectures or presentations that you look back in a year or two's time, and you see that you've really started the ball rolling, and there's a whole bunch of activities stemming from this meeting. So, thanks so much, Lucy.

431 01:07:46.040 --> 01:07:54.969 Lucy Eccles - GRCC: Yeah, I hope so, and, you know, I'd welcome people to keep in touch and let me know if, you know, if it comes to anything. So, yeah, great to meet you all. Thank you.

432 01:07:55.120 --> 01:07:55.690 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And I just…

433 01:07:55.690 --> 01:07:57.060 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: soon.

434 01:07:57.430 --> 01:08:11.460 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: an extraordinary example of foresight, I've worked out what's going to happen next week, so those of you who haven't looked at our program, we're going to be talked to next week all about drones and photography, and I particularly…

435 01:08:11.700 --> 01:08:27.160 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: I asked this question of a local person about doing overhead flights of villages and parishes to see at night what the infrared leakage is, and to show people just where their houses are short of information or insulation.

436 01:08:27.290 --> 01:08:28.510 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And,

437 01:08:28.740 --> 01:08:34.450 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And there are lots of other uses that drones can be put to nowadays to really help things going. I know that,

438 01:08:34.450 --> 01:08:49.500 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: We really got things going in Somerset when we had a drone go up and take a look at the nature reserve once a month, and sort of just photographed how it was developing. So, useful stuff. Do come and join us next week, please, if you want to find out more about what can be done.

439 01:08:49.500 --> 01:08:51.629 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: In the world of air-to-air flying.

440 01:08:51.630 --> 01:09:01.110 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And in the meantime, have a great week, and Lucy, thank you so much. We'll publish all of your presentation and your links and your contact information, on the Knowledge Base.

441 01:09:01.279 --> 01:09:02.679 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Take care, everybody, thank you so much.

442 01:09:02.689 --> 01:09:03.769 Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thank you very much, that's great.

443 01:09:03.770 --> 01:09:04.709 Andrew Maliphant Great Collaboration - Gloucestershire: Thanks, everybody.

444 01:09:04.710 --> 01:09:05.680 Rob Cheeseman-Weymouth: Thank you, cheers.

445 01:09:05.689 --> 01:09:06.099 Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Hi, bye.

446 01:09:06.100 --> 01:09:06.850 Sarah Barker Kings Hill PC: Bye!

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Markdown copy of "Inclusive Approaches to Building Community Resilience"

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Inclusive Approaches to Building Community Resilience

Lucy Eccles – Community Resilience Officer at GRCC

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Overview

• Introduction

• What is community resilience

• What is inclusivity

• Identifying vulnerability

• Steps to take in the community

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Who are GRCC?

• Registered charity helping Gloucestershire’s communities since 1923

• Inspiring, enabling, and delivering community action

• Our teams cover:

  • Affordable Housing

  • Autism and Mental Health

  • Community Development

  • Digital Equity

  • Health and Wellbeing

• We work under the umbrella of ACRE (Action for Communities in Rural England) as part of a network of 38 Rural Community Councils across England

• As a local infrastructure organisation, we are also a member of NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action)

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GRCC’s Community Resilience Work in Gloucestershire

• Volunteer Flood Warden Schemes

• Community Emergency Planning Support

• Community Climate Action Plan Toolkit

• Community Development work

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What is Community Resilience?

As defined by the UK Government:

“Community resilience is enabled when the public are empowered to harness local resources and expertise to help themselves and their communities to prepare, respond and recover from disruptive challenges... and to plan and adapt to long-term social and environmental changes.”

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The Role of Parish/Town Councils and Community Organisations in Community Resilience

‘Unsung heroes of emergency response’ – NALC and LSE report (Sep 2025)

• A survey of over 400 parish and town councils found that 85% provided support during the COVID-19 pandemic

Unique Strengths:

• Local perspectives of local conditions

• Potential to mobilise volunteers quickly

• Recognised community leaders and coordinators

• Represent community need

• Local voice

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What is Inclusivity?

“The fact of including all types of people, things or ideas and treating them all fairly and equally.” – Cambridge Dictionary

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Why is Inclusivity Important in Community Resilience?

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR):

• Disasters do not affect everyone equally

• They amplify existing inequalities linked to:

  • Gender

  • Age

  • Disability

  • Income

  • Other social factors

Recognising and addressing these intersecting risks and vulnerabilities are essential to build resilient, inclusive, and just societies in the face of rising climate and disaster challenges.

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Inclusivity in Community Resilience: The Case for the UK

Key facts illustrating inequality in emergencies:

• People with disabilities accounted for approximately 6 out of every 10 deaths related to Covid-19 in the UK

• Lower income households are less likely to report storm or flood damage and less likely to have contents insurance

• 1 in 5 emergency workers in the UK encounter language barriers on a daily basis

• In 2024, 57% of heat-associated deaths occurred in those aged over 85 in England

• Almost half of Grenfell fire deaths were people with disabilities and children

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Identifying Vulnerability

Factors that may increase vulnerability include:

• Physical or mobility impairment

• Sensory impairment or loss

• Mental or cognitive function impairment

• Medical conditions requiring additional support

• Older people

• Children and young people

• Those who are pregnant

• Gender

• LGBTQ+ people

• Minority language speakers or those with other communication needs

• Asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants

• Travelling community

• People in sheltered housing or on the periphery of adult social care

• Those who are homeless or rough sleeping

• Tourists

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What Steps Can Community Organisations Take?

(Illustrated section introducing practical actions – summarised below)

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Day-to-Day Considerations

• Research and understand your community

• Connect with local partners

• Community engagement

• Accessible signage and resources

• Accessible places of safety

• Inclusive and accessible early warning systems

• Human-centred approach to crisis preparedness

• Encourage personal emergency plans and household grab bags

• Promote the Priority Services Register

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During an Emergency

• Provide accessible messaging

• Ensure places of safety are accessible

• Coordinate with local partners and emergency responders

• Know when to signpost and escalate a situation

• Adopt a buddy system

• Offer welfare support

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After an Emergency

• Connect people with local organisations for practical and emotional support

• Encourage and support people to:

  • Take photos of damage for insurance claims

  • Report issues to relevant authorities

• Regularly check in and offer emotional reassurance

• Assist with clean-up or arrange professional help

• Use a human-centred approach to evaluating response

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What Could I Do Today to Start Building Inclusive Community Resilience?

• Connect with local voluntary and community sector organisations

• Get in touch with your local ACRE or NAVCA member for support

• Start researching your community (e.g., census data)

• Prepare an emergency grab bag

• Share information about the Priority Services Register

• Plan a low-cost engagement event

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Contact Information

Lucy Eccles Community Resilience Officer at GRCC

• Email: [email protected]

• Telephone: [phone]

• Website: https://www.grcc.org.uk/