It goes without saying that emergencies, such as infectious diseases (influenza pandemic), floods, severe weather (such as heavy snow or storms) major road accidents (for example involving fuel or explosives), have a massive impact on our personal lives, businesses and infrastructure.

At Central Bedfordshire Council, we ensure that we can effectively respond to emergencies in partnership with the emergency services, NHS, voluntary sector and other responders. The aim of Central Bedfordshire Council's response to an emergency is to limit the effect of an emergency on people's normal way of life - by taking action with our partners to:

• minimise the impact on our communities and environment
• continue delivery of our critical services
• help the most vulnerable
• engage and empower affected communities.

To deliver this aim Central Bedfordshire Council works in close partnership through the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum. This is a group that works to ‘integrate’ the response of all organisations that would be involved in managing an emergency in Bedfordshire and to deliver the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Membership of this group includes the emergency services, the health services, Bedfordshire local authorities, utility companies and voluntary sector organisations. The majority of our emergency plans are joint multi-agency plans developed through partnership working.

Central Bedfordshire Council works in partnership through the Bedfordshire and Luton Local Resilience Forum (BLLRF) to produce and maintain at local Community Risk Register. This register details all the hazards that face Bedfordshire and assess the risk by looking at their likelihood of occurring measured against their impact.

All our emergency plans are developed to prepare for, mitigate and respond to the key risks facing Bedfordshire. Find out more about the key risks in Bedfordshire and the Community Risk Register.

No one likes to think about emergency situations, but being adequately prepared is something for which we all need to take responsibility.

Support systems are in place across Bedfordshire and Luton to assist in times of crisis – but if an emergency arose, would you know what to do and where to go for help?

Vital information to help you prepare for any emergency can be found at the What would you do if? website.

Get Involved

If you would like to go a step further and assist others in an emergency then please follow the link for the Bedfordshire and Luton Emergency Volunteers Executive Committee and see how you can get involved.

• What would you do if? Facebook page
• What would you do if? Twitter page