West Berkshire award for flood response
West Berkshire communities were significantly affected by flooding in July 2007
WEST Berkshire's Civil Contingencies Manager is celebrating after winning an award win from the Environment Agency for her part in organising a flood response exercise.
West Berkshire communities were significantly affected by flooding in July 2007 and since then measures have been put in place to ensure that the county is better prepared for flooding in the future.
Carolyn Richardson played a key role in the Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum (LRF) in the planning of the Environment Agency's project called ‘Exercise Watermark'.
The recent Thames Valley event was part of the larger national flooding exercise which tested the nation's resilience to a major flood over three days and was the culmination of a year's planning across many different agencies.
More than 150 people from various community groups, flood groups and parish and town councils from all across the Thames Valley gathered for the event in Oxford where emergency plans were put to the test through a series of challenging flooding scenarios.
Anthony Stansfeld, West Berkshire's Executive Councillor for Community Safety said, "Winning this award would not have been possible without the commitment of the organising team and the enthusiastic response of the communities who attended and participated so willingly. We are now able all building on the work done to support communities further.”
The day also included an address from Newbury MP Richard Benyon. He said, “I saw many different parts of Exercise Watermark around the country but was particularly impressed with the Community Day organised by Thames Valley LRF. It brought together so many groups of people and was a genuine learning process for communities large and small. I congratulate all involved in this event: the Environment Agency, the Emergency Services, Local Authorities, Town and Parish Councils and voluntary groups. They can be sure they have made thousands of local people safer from the risk of flooding and better able to deal with flooding when it happens.”
