Residents support Council during Rest Centre training exercise

To ensure the Council is resilient for any major incident where local residents may need our support, training exercises are regularly for staff and local partner organisations.

On Friday 4 October, a group of residents joined the Council to participate in a training exercise for a Rest Centre. The Council would set up a Rest Centre in an event where residents need to be evacuated from their homes, and have no alternative accommodation.

Staff, alongside residents, partners at Wiltshire Council and the local Red Cross simulated the support the Council would provide local people in this scenario. The learning from this event will be used to shape our preparations, should we ever need to enact these plans.

Cllr Emma Bushell, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Organisational Oversight, attended the exercise and said:

“It was brilliant to see so many residents support our Rest Centre training exercise. While we hope we never have to establish a Rest Centre, the hard work of residents, local partners and colleagues across the Council means we can be confident we will have the very best plans possible, should they ever be needed. Our Council will continue to run regular training scenarios to ensure it is prepared and resilient in a case where residents need us most.” 

Thank you to all the residents, staff and local partners who took their time to support this work.