Newport Parish Council has been successful in securing funding of £8,645 from Scottish and Southern Energy Resilient Communities Fund to train and equip voluntary emergency wardens for Newport.
Ciara Wilson, Community Funds Manager for Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution said, ‘We welcome Newport Parish Council’s proactive approach in preparing the community for potentially severe weather. The Emergency Wardens will play a key role in deploying a coordinated local response if flooding occurs, and provide an excellent support network for vulnerable residents. We were pleased to award this grant from our Resilient Communities Fund for a very worthwhile project.”
The 36 Emergency Wardens will cover the 6 areas in Newport that are most vulnerable to flooding. Six of the trained Wardens will be lead Wardens. The wardens will also be trained for wider emergencies to include extreme weather and utility failure.
The Parish Council will work with The Footprint Trust, Newport Rivers Group, the Environment Agency and the IW Council Community Resilience Team to create a comprehensive plan for Newport.
The trained Emergency Wardens will act as local contacts, working in ward-based groups, giving guidance and assistance to their neighbours. They will also be loaned simple equipment enabling them to offer immediate assistance ahead of any requirement for the energency services.
Carol Flux, from Natural Enterprise who co-ordinate the Newport Rivers Group said ‘The extremely wet weather we had in Winter 2013-4 highlighted that severe weather can cause events that have massive impacts. We were contacted by local residents who felt their lives had been turned upside down. We can’t always prevent these events, but we can help the community to be ready and minimise the impact. We are delighted that Newport Parish Council has secured this money to do this, and will continue to work with other agencies to see how we can also prevent flooding occurring.’
Once the network of wardens is established they will provide a valuable link between the community and the emergency services and be able to cover a number of emergency situations. The wardens will have training refreshers and new wardens will be trained on a rolling program.
Ray Harrington-Vail from the Footprint Trust said ‘The Footprint Trust very much welcomes this positive project, which will help the community minimise the damage that can be caused in the unfortunate event of flooding. The scheme gives the opportunity to build up a network of local volunteers, who can give guidance and help in extreme weather conditions. The Trust will build on our experience of running Wardening schemes, to work with Newport Parish Council and statutory bodies to make the project a real success.’
Meetings will be set up early in the New Year across Newport to recruit volunteers and more information regarding dates and venues will be available in the Parish Council newsletter and through local media.