Emergency planning & resilience – Saltford

Information on this page:

• 🔹 Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group
• 🔹 What emergencies will the volunteer group respond to?
• 🔹 What external authority support is available to assist the group?
• 🔹 Places of Safety in Saltford
• 🔹 How can residents, local organisations and businesses offer support?
• 🔹 Communications during an emergency
• 🔹 How can residents help during an emergency?
  • – Prepare;
  • – Support friends and neighbours;
  • – Know what to do if your children are at school
• 🔹 Emergency Alerts
• 🔹 Defibrillators and Bleed Kits
• 🔹 How Saltford’s Emergency and Resilience plan was developed

Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group:

The Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group (all volunteers) was created to assist emergency response organisations, and to aid community resilience, in the case of a large-scale or village-wide acute emergency (this may include for instance a railway accident, unexploded WWII bomb etc).

In an emergency, residents are reminded to contact the emergency services on 999.

The volunteer group is not directly contactable by residents. The group will decide when it will act and if it is able to offer support. The group is made up of individuals acting in a voluntary capacity, who are part of Saltford Parish Council and Saltford Community Association, as well as the two Saltford B&NES Ward Councillors.

Please be aware that the group does not have any responsibility for handling hazards or emergencies directly. B&NES Council is the authority responsible for emergency planning for the B&NES area (including Saltford) and provides a Duty Officer 24 hours a day who will organise B&NES Council staff members throughout the incident and into the recovery phase.

Saltford Parish Council has agreed to host Saltford Resilience and Emergency Planning information on its website for ease of access by residents, but the group is independent of the Parish Council, and emergency planning in Saltford is the responsibility of B&NES Council.

If there is an acute emergency in or near Saltford that may benefit from a local coordinated response, if agreed between members, the group will aim to meet immediately to:

• 🔹 Act as a point of contact and liaise with the appropriate authorities (emergency services, B&NES Council etc.).
• 🔹 Communicate essential information with Saltford residents via SPC’s and/or SCA’s social media / websites / noticeboards.
• 🔹 Agree key actions and assign roles within the group to achieve these actions.
• 🔹 Request support and/or resource from residents and/or external organisations if required.
• 🔹 Look to support vulnerable people (if able and relevant) or signpost residents to support .

What emergencies will the volunteer group respond to?

It is impossible to anticipate or prepare for all emergencies. There are some emergencies that the group will be able to act on or support external organisations, whereas others will solely be the responsibility of the appropriate authorities (e.g. the police, B&NES Council or a utility company).

The Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group will assemble and act only when it considers that it can be of use. For instance, if it can assist the emergency services or when its actions would be beneficial for people in Saltford. It is up to the group to decide whether it will meet and/or take action.

The group recognises it is ultimately up to the relevant and responsible authority or authorities to take the lead in any emergency.

What external authority support is available to assist the group?

Emergency Planning for Saltford is the responsibility of B&NES Council, and it is possible (pending the type of emergency) that the group will follow the lead set by the B&NES Council Emergency Planning Team.

Their webpage details information on B&NES Council’s role, activity and how the the B&NES Emergency Planning Team can help. Residents can report an emergency to B&NES Council also.

The Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group would look to work closely with the B&NES Council Emergency Planning Team if required and requested, to support the B&NES team in their work.

B&NES Council is also the Lead Local Flood Authority for Saltford.

B&NES Council is part of the Avon and Somerset Resilience Forum, a multi-agency partnership of different organisation’s including the emergency services, health services, Maritime and Coastal Agency, Environment Agency, voluntary agencies, utility companies, transport providers and local councils. The Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum (LRF) is responsible for the Community Risk Register; this provides information on emergencies that could happen within the Avon and Somerset area, together with an assessment of how likely they are to happen and the impacts if they do. Please download a copy of the Community Risk Register (PDF) for full details.

The Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum aims to:

• ➤ plan and prepare for emergencies
• ➤ deliver an effective and efficient response to an emergency
• ➤ support and enable communities 
• ➤ prepare for and increase resilience to emergencies.

Places of Safety in Saltford

If you need to evacuate from your home due to a large-scale emergency, or if the emergency services require an emergency assembly point following a significant incident locally, Saltford Hall is the village’s assigned place of safety. The Saltford Emergency Co-ordinators Group and/or B&NES Council (or other authorities e.g. Police, Fire) etc will aim to share the message to the community if or when Saltford Hall is being used as a place of safety.

If Saltford Hall is not accessible during an emergency, a second assembly point will be identified and communicated. Once available this information will be shared by the Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group and the appropriate authorities, likely via social media and websites.

Saltford’s main place of safety or emergency assembly point is Saltford Hall

• 🔹 Address: Saltford Hall, Wedmore Road, Saltford BS31 3BY.
• 🔹 Map: Click here
• 🔹 What3words: ///inspector.buns.dollar
• 🔹 Directions: Saltford Hall is situated halfway between Bristol and Bath, and access is gained from the A4 Bath Road by turning into either Norman or Beech Road. If accessing from the A4 onto Norman Road, turn left onto Brockley Road, then at the end right onto Stratton Road then immediately left onto Broadway. You will see Saltford Hall directly in front of you. If accessing from the A4 onto Beech Road, turn left at the end of Beech Road onto Norman Road, then turn right onto Stratton Road, follow round and turn gentle right onto Chelwood Road and follow round – just beyond the play park is Saltford Hall on the right.

Please bring: If leaving home for a place of safety, you may wish to bring personal belongings such as:

• 🔹 warm clothes and spare underwear;
• 🔹 medication;
• 🔹 phone & charger, plus a powerpack;
• 🔹 snacks/water;
• 🔹 ID;
• 🔹 keys;
• 🔹 essential toiletries;
• 🔹 wallet/cash/card;
• 🔹 glasses;
• 🔹 torch.
• (also see ‘prepare’ section below)

Information about Saltford Hall as a place of safety: Saltford Hall has a large hall and five meeting rooms meaning it has a capacity for a high number of people if required. Saltford Hall has:

• 🔹 accessible entry;
• 🔹 tables; chairs;
• 🔹 toilets inc. one disabled toilet; baby changing facilities (in accessible toilet)
• 🔹 heating;
• 🔹 kitchen; including cooker, fridge, refreshment facilities;
• 🔹 small office area; telephones;
• 🔹 good quality WiFi (access to free wifi);
• 🔹 some storage space (space permitting);
• 🔹 parking in the nearby Wedmore Road car park and in front of the building (inc. accessible spaces);
• 🔹 Defibrillator and Bleed Kit

Please note Saltford Hall does not have: designated changing space; washing facilities other than in toilet areas; a children’s area, creche or toys; or a multi-faith room.

Pets are allowed in Saltford Hall an emergency if caged / under control.

How can residents, local organisations and businesses offer support?

Residents, local groups and businesses can help support the ‘Emergency Co-ordinators Group’ by offering when requested by the group any skills, resource and time if a large-scale or village-wide emergency occurs.

If you are able to offer help during an emergency please follow SPC’s and SCA’s social media feeds for support and resource requests (if the internet is down, please check the two noticeboards by the shops on Bath Road located at What3Words https://what3words.com/denoting.likening.piper, nearest addresses: 491-493 Bath Road, BS31 3HQ). Saltford Parish Council and Saltford Community Association use Facebook. SPC’s posts can be viewed on the side bar of its website.

If you are able to help in an emergency and have skills (electrician, plumber etc); resources (vehicles, a supply of blankets, wholesale food); or are medically trained, please respond to any posts requesting specific help.

A phone number may also be set up for people to call to offer support. A member of the Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group will aim to respond to any messages received (this may take some time pending the nature of the emergency and members of the group available).

In agreeing to help in an emergency, please note that you agree to your personal information being held by members of the Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group and to your details being shared with other people as necessary. Your details will not be held or shared for any other purpose, and will be destroyed after any emergency.

Physical lists of those who may be able to offer help and support are not being kept as it is unknown what emergency the village may encounter, when an emergency may occur and who may be available to help. Information on such lists can go out of date very quickly and can therefore be unreliable.

In an emergency residents need to report issues directly to the appropriate authorities. Contact information can be found on SPC’s Report It page. As above, in an emergency call 999.

Communications during an emergency

As above, messages from the Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group will be shared with residents via Saltford Parish Council’s and Saltford Community Associations social media feeds.

Saltford Parish Council uses Facebook. Its recent Facebook posts are displayed on the right-hand side of its website. Residents do not need to be active members of Facebook to view posts on SPC’s website.

If the internet is down, hardcopy notices will be displayed on the noticeboards by the parade of shops on the A4 Bath Road (nearest shop to noticeboards is Day Lewis Pharmacy – 493 Bath Rd, BS31 3HQ). Noticeboard at What3words ///evoked.static.repeating

How can residents help during an emergency?

🔹 Prepare:

The best way for residents to help in an emergency is to take practical steps to ensure and improve their own resilience. Taking practical steps to improve resilience and prepare for emergencies will help the emergency services cope if the worse happens.

To prepare for an emergency, please see the Government website page ‘Preparing for emergencies’.

Residents may wish to create and print their own Household Emergency Plan. Plans need to be kept in a safe and accessible place. These can vary in content, so find one to suit your needs. Household Emergency Plan templates can be found here and here. Prepare a kit of essential items such as your insurance documents, a torch, a wind-up or battery radio, warm clothing and blankets, a first aid kit and any prescription medicine, essential toiletries, a phone charger and power pack, bottled water and nonperishable foods. Plus anything else applicable to your family that are essential e.g. nappies, medical equipment etc. If you do not have spares of any items, leave a list on the top of your essential items so you know what to ‘grab’ if an emergency occurs.

Please also refer to Saltford Parish Council’s Report It webpage, which has useful contact information including for the police, B&NES Council and the Environment Agency. The ‘Report It’ page also contains guidance or links on what to do and relevant contact details in instances of flooding, gas leaks, power cuts, and water leaks. This page also has guidance from the Met Office about flooding advice; and community resilience during rain, snow and ice, thunderstorms and lightning, strong winds and gales, fog and extreme heat.

Saltford Parish Council’s Local Community Organisations webpage has helpful contact information. This includes St Augustine’s Surgery’s ‘Help us to Help You – How to Access Care and Support’ document which contains a list of contact information and the link to St Augustine’s NHS Wellbeing and Health Directory.

If flooding is a particular concern, further to the ‘Your home in Somerset could be at risk of flooding. Would you know what to do?’ leaflet linked above, this Property Flood Resilience Toolkit has helpful preparation information. Please also see here and here for a checklist of actions, and here for an emergency grab list of items you may need if leaving a flooded property. Please also familiarise yourself with the Environment Agency’s leaflet ‘on ‘Your home in Somerset could be at risk of flooding. Would you know what to do?‘ which has some great advice for properties in advance of a potential flooding incident. The Environment Agency’s leaflet ‘Recent flooding in Somerset. What can you do now?’ and the ‘Environment Agency Flood Recovery Guide‘ provides advice on what you can do after a flood.

🔹 Support friends and neighbours

Residents can help by checking on their friends and neighbours and sharing resources and information. Please only do this if it is safe to do so.

In particular, please make contact with friends or neighbours who may be vulnerable. For example in extreme weather or during a power/utilities shortage please check that any elderly or disabled neighbours are keeping hydrated, warm and well.

Please also share information with those who may not have access to the internet (key messages from the Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group will be shared via social media and/or physical noticeboards, see above under ‘communications’).

🔹 Know what to do if your children are at school

If children are at school and there is an emergency it is understandable that their parents and guardians will want to collect them as soon as possible.

Please remember all schools have plans to manage local emergencies, such as flood and fire. They also have their own assigned place of safety if they need to leave the school site. Teachers and other school staff will do all they can to look after pupils in their charge. To find out more about school emergency planning, visit www.teachernet.gov.uk/emergencies

Emergency information will be made available on individual school websites, see here for Saltford Primary School and Wellsway School. Local radio stations may also provide information and advice, as B&NES Council may provide local media outlets with information about where and how to collect children during an emergency. The Saltford Emergency Coordinators Group will share any information if received from local schools.

Emergency Alerts

Emergency Alerts to phones were nationally trialled in April 2023. Please find out more about Emergency Alerts in a factsheet here. More information can also be found here https://www.gov.uk/alerts

You may get alerts about severe flooding, fires and/or extreme weather.

Emergency alerts will only be sent by the emergency services, government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies.

When you get an emergency alert – Your mobile phone or tablet may make a loud siren-like sound, even if it’s set on silent, vibrate and/or read out the alert. The sound and vibration will last for about 10 seconds.

Defibrillators and Bleed Kits

Visit SPC’s ‘Defibrillators and Bleed Kits‘ page for known locations in the village.

Defibrillator information can also be found on The Circuit (if registered by their owners).

Bleed Kit information can also be found on the HeartSafe Bleed Kit map (again, if registered by their owners).

Please note that SPC does not own any defibrillators and some lifesaving equipment in the village may only be accessible with permission from their owners.

How Saltford’s Emergency and Resilience plan was developed

Saltford was the first place in the Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES) area to develop an Emergency and Resilience Plan. Saltford first started thinking about a plan in February 2020, when community leaders (including members of SPC) attended a presentation given by the B&NES Emergency Management team at Saltford Hall. Aspects such as preparing for flooding or a village-wide emergency were covered.

Before a plan could go on to be developed, soon after the meeting was held the COVID19 pandemic hit and the first lockdown was announced. As residents will recall, the Saltford community pulled together rapidly, especially to actively support the more vulnerable in our community. Once the impact of the pandemic eased, experience from Saltford’s response to the COVID19 pandemic was drawn on when Saltford Emergency Co-ordinators Group went on to create the village’s Emergency and Resilience Plan in late 2021.

On 6 September 2024 the B&NES Emergency Team hosted a B&NES Community Resilience Day at Saltford Hall. Saltford’s plan was the ‘Community Case Study’, as presented by SPC Cllr Phil Harding (a member of the Saltford Emergency Co-ordinators Group). Demonstrations by Avon Fire and Rescue also featured as part of the day (please see images below).

Saltford’s Emergency and Resilience plan was created and tailored to meet the resource availability and nature of the Saltford community. All areas differ, but Saltford hopes the above information about its approach to emergency planning is helpful to others who may be looking to create or update their own emergency plans.

If you are part of a community in the B&NES area and want to find out more about B&NES Council’s Emergency Management Team and the support they can offer on how to create your own Emergency and Resilience plan for your area, please visit the ‘Plan for an emergency‘ page on the B&NES Council website and contact the B&NES Council Emergency Team for guidance. The B&NES team says: ‘Our team work closely with partner organisations in the area and are an active member of the Community Risk Register where joint work is undertaken to plan for a wider variety of emergencies requiring a “multi-agency” response. For further details or advice, please email emergencyplanning@bathnes.gov.uk‘.

B&NES Community Resilience Day at Saltford Hall, September 2024

THIS PAGE IS HOSTED BY SALTFORD PARISH COUNCIL ON BEHALF OF THE SALTFORD EMERGENCY CO-ORDINATORS VOLUNTARY GROUP, IN RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF EMERGENCY PLANNING AND RESILIENCE IN THE INSTANCE OF A VILLAGE-WIDE EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND RESILIENCE IS NOT A RESPONSIBILITY OF SALTFORD PARISH COUNCIL