23 January 2025

Have your say: Help shape resilience and emergency preparedness in West Yorkshire communities

People living and working in West Yorkshire are being asked to share their thoughts on community resilience and emergency preparedness in a new survey designed to find out how prepared the region would be if faced with a major incident.

West Yorkshire Prepared, the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) for West Yorkshire, is hoping to increase the resilience of communities in the region by encouraging people to be better prepared when faced with emergency incidents such as flooding, storms, fires and power outages.

To do this, they need to know how resilient people and communities already are, and have created the West Yorkshire Community Resilience survey to find out. The information obtained through the survey will feed into the Forum’s work to help communities better prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and major incidents.

Inspector Leah Bell, Manager of West Yorkshire Prepared, said: “Research and recent events have shown that communities with high resilience can handle challenges better and recover quicker from emergencies. So we want to find out just how resilient our West Yorkshire communities currently are.

“This survey will ask the people who live and work in West Yorkshire what they already know about community resilience, if they’re aware of the risks facing our region, how prepared they are for various incidents and what they would do if faced with an emergency situation.”

Anyone living or working in West Yorkshire can help by completing the survey. It should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and can be accessed here or on the West Yorkshire Prepared website: www.westyorkshireprepared.org.uk/communityresiliencesurvey. The survey will remain open until 9th February. 

Mick McGowan, Community Resilience officer for West Yorkshire Prepared, added: “We know there’s already a huge amount of work taking place right across West Yorkshire, carried out by dedicated volunteers and community groups. But we need to understand what’s happening and where in order to connect this valuable work and knowledge with that of the emergency services, Local Authorities and other partners.

“We hope to create an effective and efficient network of resilience and preparedness across all districts to ensure everyone is as prepared as they can be. So whether you’re a member of a community response group, know of a local community hub or would just like to ensure you and your family are better prepared should an incident happen, we want to hear from you.”

The survey results will provide a baseline level of information so West Yorkshire Prepared can identify where people and groups can be connected, highlight any areas of good practice and pinpoint any areas requiring more support and development.

West Yorkshire Resilience Forum – also known as West Yorkshire Prepared – is made up of the region’s emergency responders, Local Authorities, health services and other supporting agencies. These organisations work collaboratively to help communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and major incidents, by:

  • Assessing the types of hazards that might affect our region.
  • Putting plans in place to address different types of emergencies.
  • Delivering training and exercises to test the plans.
  • Ensuring staff in all organisations are kept up to date.
  • Providing advice, information and assistance to the public, business community and voluntary organisations.

To find out more, visit www.westyorkshireprepared.org.uk.