Places and Spaces

Tell your Local Resilience Forum or equivalent about places in your area that could help in an emergency. Share your plans for how your group can offer additional support before an emergency happens.

Each area of England and Wales has a Local Resilience Forum. Scotland has Regional Resilience Partnerships and Northern Ireland has Emergency Preparedness Groups. All these groups bring together the emergency services, council, NHS and other organisations to plan for emergencies.

An online search will provide you with contact details for your local Forum, Partnership or Group.

If your group runs a space, you may be able to use it to help emergency planning and response.

A space that is not right for an official emergency centre can still help in other ways.

It could work as a community-led emergency hub or ‘place of safety’. This is a place to share information, organise volunteers, and help coordinate support in an emergency.

Bring together local people from different groups and think about the important places in your area where people feel safe and connected. This might include:

• Community buildings, like community halls and community hubs
• Sports clubs, like a football, cricket or a bowls club
• Places of worship, like churches, mosques, synagogues and temples
• Cultural spaces, like arts centres, libraries, theatres and museums
• Local cafes or other businesses
• Green spaces, which are areas with grass or trees, like parks
• Blue spaces, which are areas near water, like beaches, rivers, canals and lakes

You don’t need to work out all the risks yourself. You can check the flood risk for your area online and look at your Community Risk Register. This is a public document that explains the main risks that could cause disruption in your area.

Using the information you have gathered, as a community group, think through:

• Where people would go for help during an emergency
• Where people would go to find information that they can trust
• Which spaces most people know about
• Which spaces only the groups that use them know about
• How other, less well-known spaces could also help

Warm and cool spaces are places in the community that are free, welcoming and safe. Any member of the public can go, and they can also reduce loneliness and isolation.

As a group, talk about your local transport network. Think about:

When you are doing your Skills Audit consider how your group could help with transport in an emergency. A skills audit is a list of the skills people in your group have. You can read the People and Skills module here.

For example:

• Your group could put people who find it hard to get around in touch with people who have a car
• A motorbike club could run errands for people who rely on local public transport if it is not working
• A local taxi or private hire firm could agree how it might help people who have difficulty getting around
• A cycling group could deliver essential items if roads are congested or public transport is disrupted
• A community minibus could help people get to a support centre or other essential services
• Local delivery drivers or courier businesses could help move essential supplies around the community
• A walking group could help deliver information or check in on people nearby when other forms of transport are disrupted.

Community spaces can bring together people of different ages, cultures and backgrounds. Over time, these connections can build trust and help people feel part of their community.

Think about how your spaces could work for more people. This might mean making sure they are accessible for wheelchair users, people with limited mobility and people with buggies or prams.

The best way to find out what people need is to ask. Talk to people who already use the space, but also speak to people who don’t. What would make it easier or more comfortable for them to come along?

Remember that not everyone feels comfortable in the same places. Some people may be more likely to use places they already know and trust, so it’s a good idea to work with other local groups to understand where these are. They could include spaces run by:

• local charities and voluntary groups
• faith groups
• residents and neighbourhood groups
• sports and social clubs
• cultural or community organisations
• libraries
• schools, colleges and nurseries
• cafés, pubs and social clubs
• barbers, hairdressers and salons
• local shops, markets and shopping centres
• community gardens and allotments
• parks, playgrounds and outdoor meeting places
• gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools
• Men’s Sheds and repair cafés
• food banks, community kitchens and community fridges
• launderettes
• housing association communal areas
• workplaces and business parks

If you are improving a space your group runs, think about how it could work better in an emergency.

You can also do this when there are new building plans in your area.

You could add:

• Covered areas where people can gather outside
• A way to collect rainwater
• Solar power or a backup generator
• Entrances that older people, people with young children and people with disabilities can use easily.

You may be able to work with local people or professionals to improve or build shared spaces . These can meet every day needs and provide protection in an emergency .

Online spaces can be an important part of a community, helping people connect, share information and support each other.

These might include:

• local Facebook or Nextdoor groups
• WhatsApp groups for streets, schools, sports clubs or community groups
• group chats used by youth groups and young people
• online groups linked to schools, colleges or universities
• local forums and community websites
• social media accounts run by trusted local organisations.

Think about the online spaces that different people in your community already use. Young people, for example, may use different platforms and group chats from older residents.

These networks can help share trusted information during an emergency and help people stay connected. It’s a good idea to encourage people to build these connections before they are needed.