[A] campaign is being launched today – the official start of winter – as part of Cumbria’s ‘winter ready’ plans to help people be better prepared for the coming months.
As well as a new-look website ‘cumbriawinterready.org.uk’ the campaign will also involve a programme of targeted social media activity helping to ensure that residents and businesses are kept up to date with all the latest ‘winter ready’ advice and information.
The campaign seeks to ensure people have the right information, advice and guidance at their fingertips. It has been developed, and is supported by, a wide range of partners including Cumbria County Council, the six District Councils, Cumbria Community Foundation and the Environment Agency and is launching today, 1 December, the start of meteorological winter.
The campaign provides advice and assistance on everything you need to know to help you be prepared and to get winter ready, including:
- Emergency planning – advice on how to protect your home from flooding and find out if you are at risk.
- Financial support available – winter fuel payments and grants available for people affected by disasters such as flooding.
- Winter driving – how to stay safe, keep up to date with road and weather information and make your vehicle ready for winter.
- Health advice – staying well this winter.
Councillor Keith Little, Cumbria County Council Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said: “Flooding has had a huge impact on many of our communities, particularly during the winter of 2015. Much has been done to protect Cumbria from flooding and the county council is continuing to work hard on the recovery programme to repair flood damaged infrastructure, including roads and bridges.
“We are also continuing to work with local communities to help them become more resilient. Last winter the county council worked with our partners to launch a Winter Ready campaign which included a dedicated website to provide a one-stop source of information and advice to help residents and businesses prepare for winter.
“The campaign was well received in the county and we have now updated and refreshed the website. We will also be promoting this key information to people through all of our social media platforms, which can play a key role in helping us keep people informed and up to date.”
Environment Agency Flood Manager Andy Brown said: “The #WinterReady campaign in Cumbria is a great example of how we are working together to provide residents and businesses with support, local information on how to be more resilient and prepared for the winter weather. The Environment Agency and our partners as members of the Cumbria Strategic Floods Partnership (CSFP) together have launched the new website, which provides people with a single place to access the information they need to better protect themselves and get the latest information.”
The CSFP includes the Environment Agency, Cumbria County Council, the six district councils, United Utilities and a wide range of representatives from other organisations and community groups. Alongside recovery work, communities and organisations came together to produce the Cumbria Flood Action Plan. This aims to make Cumbria better prepared to manage flood risk for the future. The Cumbria Flood Action Plan identifies 102 actions across Cumbria to reduce flood risk and increase resilience to flooding. To find out more, visit www.cumbriastrategicfloodpartnership.org
The Winter Ready campaign will signpost residents and businesses to the information they need, providing the latest update on what help is available to support those affected by flooding, as well as providing a single place for the promotion of a wide range of related winter campaigns such as health, flu vaccinations and advice on how to stay warm and take care of your neighbours.
There will also be a focus on emergency preparedness, advising people on how to sign up to flood alerts and have their own household flood action plans in place should the worst happen again.
For more information visit www.cumbriawinterready.org.uk and look out for #winterready updates coming soon via social media.
