Helping the community to be ready and resilient if there's ever a major incident is what 'Ready Together' is all about.

Alongside the WhatsApp Emergency Alert group already up and running (let's hope it's never needed), we've now prepared a draft Community Emergency Response Plan. It went before Richmond Town Council in April 2026 as part of the consultation process, and this autumn it heads out further still — to wider partnerships and the community itself. Plans are underway to train local 'Community Connectors' to help spread the word, with meetings scheduled for October 2026 ahead of a full public launch in January 2027.

We're also joining forces with Richmond Climate Action Partnership to host a viewing of the National Emergency Briefing, making sure national issues and local responses are talked about together, not in isolation.

At its heart, the Community Emergency Plan brings together planning at a community level for any major incident affecting the town and surrounding area - flooding, cyber attack, a pandemic, a terrorist incident. In each case, the emergency services will lead the response, but there's always a role the community can play too:

• Who needs extra help?
• Where do people turn for accurate information?
• What happens when someone's bedding and furniture are ruined by flood water?
• Are there volunteers on hand to assist with vaccinations?

These are exactly the questions 'Ready Together' is designed to answer.