Aberdeenshire community resilience receives a £1million boost
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Aberdeenshire Council is to oversee the distribution of £1million of ring-fenced funding provided by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) to support community resilience.
The energy company has allocated the money to help households, families and communities to become more resilient when a major incident or emergency occurs, with a particular emphasis on those that are vulnerable.
Members of the Aberdeenshire Council Communities committee heard at their latest meeting that a list of indicative projects had been discussed with SSEN and supported by the company, and that community resilience workshops are to take place, involving councillors, community groups and partner organisations.
There was also reference to the development of the council’s community resilience strategy, which will focus on access to information, enhancing skills and knowledge for community groups and individuals, and access to facilities and equipment, particularly for those who are vulnerable.
The aim is to help communities become more resilient in the first 24-72 hours of an emergency while relief efforts are being co-ordinated.
Part of this will involve the development of emergency packs that could be distributed when an emergency occurs.
Welcoming the funding, councillors called for the development of ‘offline solutions’ that can support communities when issues like severe whether lead to a loss of power, internet and/or mobile signal.
Committee chair Cllr Anne Stirling stressed the importance of involving community planning teams in community resilience efforts and was told how work is already underway to incorporate the council’s place strategy aims.
Discussions are under way with community learning and development colleagues to identify hard to reach vulnerable people in communities, and a project officer role has been created to support resilience efforts.
It was agreed that Aberdeenshire Council’s six area committees will receive six-monthly reports with updates on projects that have received funding from the scheme in their areas.
