CEV
Community Emergency Volunteers (Purton)
Constitution May 2023
As set out in the Home Office’s Civil Contingencies Act Enhancement Programme about Emergency Preparedness
The United Kingdom’s approach to civil contingencies is based on the principle of subsidiarity; the principle by which decisions should be taken at the lowest appropriate level with co-ordination at the highest necessary level.
Local Resilience Forums are the building block for emergency planning activities with Strategic and Recovery Co-ordinating Groups acting as the local mechanisms which are engaged during the response and recovery phases of emergencies.
The Regulations require Category 1 responders to have regard to the activities of certain voluntary organisations in the course of carrying out their emergency and business continuity planning duties. Category 1 responders must have regard to those voluntary sector bodies which carry out activities in the geographical area for which the responder is responsible
Voluntary sector organisations are those bodies whose activities are carried out not for profit and which are not public authorities or local authorities. Under the Regulations, they become relevant voluntary organisations if they carry on any activities for the purpose of preventing emergencies, reducing, controlling or mitigating the effects of emergencies, or taking other actions in connection with emergencies. This is a broad definition that will capture charities and other voluntary organisations.
The Role of the Community Emergency Volunteers (Purton) is to be resilient and to be able to operate by themselves, but also to assist Category 1 responders within our local area
Category 1 responders: Those in Category 1 are organisations at the core of the response to most emergencies: • Police, Fire & Rescue Services, Ambulance Trust, HM Coastguard, Local Authority, NHS Service Trusts, Public Health England, Environment Agency Category 1 responders are subject to a comprehensive set of civil protection duties and have a legal duty to respond to incidents.
Category 2 responders: Category 2 responders are organisations known as cooperating bodies: • Electricity Distributers, Gas Distributers, Water & Sewerage Undertakers, Telephone Service Providers, Network Rail, Highways England, Train / Airport Operators, Port / Harbour Authorities They will be heavily involved in incidents that affect their own sector and have a duty to assist Category 1 and other Category 2 responders where required.
Non-category responders: Non-category responders include agencies and organisations that do not have a duty to assist Category 1 and 2 responders but who have specialist skills, knowledge or resources that would aid a response; voluntary organisations for example: • Community Emergency Volunteers, Voluntary Search & Rescue Teams, RNLI, Military, British Red Cross, St Johns Ambulance, RVS, RAYNET, etc
This is most important with severe weather including but not limited to Wind, Snow, Flood
Severe weather would normally affect the entire county and would stretch our local resources
Showing resilience and not depending on Wiltshire Council or Highways or the Environment Agency In the event of flooding, Coordinator Kevin Law has been given Flood signs and the authority to deploy them as required
To be Resilient If strong wind causes a tree to fall across a local road, the Community Emergency Volunteers could attend the scene and carry out a risk assessment then contact local volunteers from the Purton Parish Councils Emergency Plan to deal with the issue or regional departments for assistance if needed while informing motorists and pedestrians of the situation and providing them with alternative routes if needed
At the scene of a Fire, Evacuation, flood, accident, or incident due to living within the village and working near the village, the Community Emergency Community Volunteers should be able to attend and assist:
This might be by:
Providing local knowledge to category 1 or 2 responders
Information on Vulnerable persons within the affected area
Assist with an outer Corden, this could assist any displaced affected persons, residents, pedestrians, and motorists to alternative routes or the emergency shelter or control point
Only the police have the power to enforce a cordon. The Community Emergency Volunteers do NOT have these powers.
If somebody attempts to breach the cordon we are staffing or supervising we must immediately report the attempt to a member of the uniformed emergency services.
It is possible that members of the Community Emergency Volunteers could be at the scene of an incident before any Category 1 responders as such they can relay information back to responders to give them a clear picture of what they have been asked to attend before their arrival allowing them to plan accordingly
The Community Emergency Volunteers (Purton) are happy to be called upon by Category 1 and Category 2 responders to assist with local incidents
The main role of the Community Emergency Volunteer is to Assist where required/wanted within our local area
The Community Emergency Volunteers (Purton) is a not-for-profit team that is funded by Grants from the local government and donations for equipment, training and insurance
The team currently consist of 2:
John Saunders Kevin Law
Former Purton Parish Councillor Purton Parish Councillor
Former Police Officer Purton Flood Warden
Wiltshire Police Community Volunteer
