Rebuilding Together
Following Storm Desmond and flooding across the county in December 2015, the Big Lottery funded a £1 million package to help Cumbrian communities become more resilient and to support local people, communities and organisations to prepare for similar events in the future.
The Project
Rebuilding Together was a 3 year programme, which started in October 2016, led by Cumbria CVS and delivered in partnership with Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) and Action with Communities in Cumbria (ACT) – three local charities with a long history of working together to support communities and organisations across Cumbria. The programme finished in September 2019.
Summary sheet
You can download a Summary of the programmes activities HERE
The Partners
You can contact the organisations involved in the following ways:
CAfS
Contact: Hazel Graham
01768 210276 // office@cafs.org.uk
www.cafs.org.uk// Cumbria Action for SustainabilityRebuilding Together
ACT
Contact: Lorrainne Smyth
01228 817224 // info@cumbriaaction.org.uk
www.cumbriaaction.org.uk//Action with Communities -Community Emergency Planning
Cumbria CVS
Contact: Carolyn Otley, Community Resilience Coordinator
01768 800350// CarolynO@cumbriacvs.org.uk
Rebuilding Together Conference, February 2020
Conference resources:
- Morning presentation slides
- Morning Presentation slides (with notes)
- Summary Leaflet
- Afternoon breakout session summary (including contact details)
End of Year 2 & 3 Report
End of year 2 report on activity HERE and end of year 3 report on activity HERE
Links to the Programme Resources
A number of tools, information and resources are available to support individuals, groups and organisations. Please see the links below:
- Preparing for Emergencies– Cumbria County Council
- The Flood Hub – North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee
- emergencyplanningcumbria.weebly.com for a wide variety of resources to support communities, businesses, and individuals to plan for emergencies, including Environment Agency advice specifically about flooding.
Cumbria Action for Sustainability resources: https://cafs.org.uk/our-projects/rebuilding-together/
- Is Your Business Prepared? www.claspinfo.org/resources
- Weathering The Storm – www.claspinfo.org/resources
- Environmental Cost of Flooding – https://cafs.org.uk/our-projects/rebuilding-together/environmental-cost-of-flooding/ and www.urbed.coop
- Property Level Resilience measures: experience from Cumbria www.urbed.coop and www.cafs.org.uk
- First Steps to Improving Community Sustainability – www.cafs.org.uk (coming soon)
- Retrofitting your home to cope better with flooding. A guide to improving the energy efficiency and resilience to extreme weather in traditional buildings (www.cafs.org.uk and www. 2nd ed. coming soon)
- #ReadyForRain – 33a Chapel St renovation videos – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Lm55VoiFMc3rncqjZuluSHZOYhILZ9H
ACTion with Communities in Cumbria (Visit their webpage to access all information)
- Community Emergency Planning
- ACT is supporting communities across the county with community resilience and emergency planning, to help them prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency. Download project information sheet
- Community Emergency Planning Guide and Template Plan
- Improving Community Resilience – Guidance for Parish / Town Councils
- Community Emergency Planning – Having the Conversation
- Video interview – Keswick Community Emergency Plan
- Case Study – Dent Bad Weather Friends
- Cumbria Neighbourhood Watch – Insurance offer for Emergency planning groups
- Household Emergency Planning leaflet
- Neighbourliness Works leaflet
When The Waters Rise
A film produced to highlight the personal stories of some of those affected by flooding in Carlisle.
Botcherby Community Centre Project: Remembering the Floods
Botcherby Community Centre in Carlisle suffered closure after flooding in both 2005 and 2015. The Centre is owned by Carlisle City Council and run by Botcherby Community Association, a Charitable Company. This film brings together key staff and colleagues who experienced the devastation to the centre on both occasions, looks at how the Centre recovered each time and poses the question what happens if it floods again?
Business Continuity Planning for Voluntary & Community Groups
There are some really simple steps that you could take to increase the chances of your business surviving an emergency.
• Gain an understanding of your business
• Access risks
• Evaluate potential continuity arrangements
• Develop your continuity plan(s)
Further information here: Emergency planning cumbria – business-continuity
Emergency Planning: Adults with learning disabilities
Cumbria CVS worked with local support group 2enableU to highlight the need to think about emergency situations both in and outside the home, how we can best plan in case of emergency and who is there if we need help.
Preparing for Emergencies
About the National Lottery – Community Fund
It’s the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It puts people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small, local projects. It is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Since June 2004 it has awarded over £8 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people
