The Parkgate Society

Resilience Planning for Parkgate

Parkgate is close to the River Dee, and is thus at risk to occasional flooding, mainly along the Parade.  Parkgate is also on the lower slopes of the Wirral Peninsular land mass. As such, surface water run off from the fields above Parkgate can become a problem in some parts of Parkgate, especially after a prolonged bout of rain.

Other problems, such as power cuts, can equally cause problems, hardship and possible danger to residents and businesses when they occur

Background

West Cheshire has been affected by significant weather events over the last few years and as a result, the Cheshire West & Chester Council is supporting Community Resilience Planning in response to severe weathering and flooding. Beginning in 2015 a number of meetings have been held with representatives from the Parkgate Society, the Parkgate Traders, Neston Town Council, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Welsh Water and the Environment Agency. The group have developed a comprehensive resilience plan and kit to be used by local residents as a first response to an emergency, but not as an alternative to the emergency services.

Resilience Plan  

The aim of a community resilience plan is to increase the short term resilience of the community during a weather related emergency, including: severe weathering, flooding, traffic accidents, road closures, damage to infrastructure and disruption to communications or utilities.

The activation of the plan and use of the resilience kit will occur before, during and/or after the emergency services have been alerted and involved; its operation will be aligned to and in support of that of the emergency services. The Community Resilience Plan is intended to support the work of the local emergency responders, not replace them.

Benefits to the Parkgate community and how you can get involved

The use of a community plan together with a resource kit will allow Parkgate residents to be more resilient in the event of severe weathering and hopefully encourage community participation in safeguarding homes and local businesses along the parade waterfront. 

We would look to encourage training to businesses in the communities where these kits are being located, whilst also building a chain of command within the communities to enable a proactive first response to an emergency, in conjunction to the effort made by the emergency services.

Further details of the Community Resilience Plan for Parkgate can be obtained from 

Bryan Lecky (chair@parkgatesociety.co.uk)

Alan Passmore (secretary@parkgatesociety.co.uk)

Martin Barker (Martin.Barker@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk)

Fire Resilience Planning

There have been a number of fires on the marshes in the last few years. These are devastating for the wildlife and the habitat.

Actions: Cheshire West and Chester Council are in the process of formulating a Fire Resilience Plan to help manage this risk going forward. The Society will provide updates on this planning as it becomes available.

Last Updated May 2022