Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum
The Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) helps to co-ordinate the county’s response in the event of an emergency.
The LRF doesn't directly respond to emergencies - it's there so that different members, including the police, fire, ambulance, councils, military, NHS, Environment Agency and a Government Liaison Officer, co-operate and co-ordinate properly.
This includes:
- meetings
- risk assessments and plans for emergencies such as flooding, pandemics and utility failure
- support training
- emergency exercises
The forum also holds debriefs after emergencies (especially if more than one agency was involved) to identify lessons learned and any gaps, before creating updated plans and training exercises to make sure future responses are better handled.
The 2024 LRF Annual Report is also available to read here or to download below.
Community Risk Register
The Northamptonshire Local Resilience Forum has a duty under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to produce a Community Risk Register (CRR) (available to read here or download below). This document highlights risks that have the highest likelihood and potential to have significant impact to local communities resulting in wide scale disruption.
The purpose of the Community Risk Register is to:
- inform you about the highest risks in the county and their consequences
- detail steps that can be taken to become better prepared and more resilient in your home, business and community
- provide you with links to organisations and websites to find out more information
While certain risks are mentioned it does not mean that they will definitely occur in the county. It means there is a possibility of them happening and therefore all agencies within the local resilience forum have plans in place to respond to such incidents.
The Community Risk Register is the result of professional judgement from a range of contributors, historical evidence, scientific input and expert analysis in evaluating the key risks facing Northamptonshire.
Why it is relevant to you
The Community Risk Register identifies the risks that have the highest likelihood of happening in Northamptonshire.
Being aware of these and the consequences of these incidents will help you to be prepared should such an incident occur. Some may be more relevant to you than others, for example, if you live near a river, flooding is more likely to affect you. We have seen in previous years that flash flooding can happen anywhere and affect people’s homes, so it is useful for everyone to be aware of what to do.
Other consequences, such as a power cut, could affect any of us at any time, so being prepared is vital. You can also help others in your local community who are less able to help themselves.
More information about the Community Risk Register is available here:
How would you prepare for an emergency?
The government is encouraging people to think about what they would do if they and those around them were exposed to risks ranging from floods to fires to power cuts.
Their website provides simple and effective steps people can take to be more prepared.
Taking action in advance will make it easier to manage an emergency if it does happen. The site is designed for residents in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also provide advice for their residents.
Five simple things you can do now:
- Find out if you are eligible to sign up to your gas, electricity and water supplier’s Priority Service Registers, so companies know that you need additional support
- Set a reminder in your phone or make a note on your calendar to check your smoke alarm once a month
- Write down important phone numbers on paper such as the number to report a power cut (105) and the numbers of anyone you might want to contact in an emergency
- Talk to your children about how and when to call 999 and what they should do if there’s an emergency, such as a fire at home
- Check your long-term flood risk and sign up for flood and weather warnings