NALC warns ignoring parish and town councils risks weakening national resilience
Parish and town councils should be placed at the heart of national emergency planning, as the UK faces an increasingly complex and interconnected risk landscape, we stated in our response to a new inquiry on preparedness and resilience.
The inquiry comes at a time when the UK is navigating a wide range of threats, from extreme weather and public health crises to cyber risks and geopolitical instability, all of which demand a more coordinated and inclusive approach to resilience.
We are calling on the government to update its 2022 UK Government Resilience Framework and the subsequent 2025 UK Government Resilience Action Plan to ensure parish and town councils are formally recognised and routinely consulted in the development of future emergency responses.
Crucially, it should include strengthening Local Resilience Forums by embedding parish and town council representation within them, ensuring that national strategies are grounded in local insight and delivery capacity.
We argued that achieving a genuine whole-of-society approach to resilience will not be possible without fully harnessing the role of parish and town councils. As the tier of government closest to communities, parish and town councils are uniquely positioned to understand local vulnerabilities, mobilise grassroots support, and respond quickly in times of crisis. This is backed by evidence from a 2025 London School of Economics emergency planning survey of parish and town councils. The research found that 59% of respondents identified their knowledge of local conditions as one of the most important contributions they bring to emergency response efforts. In addition, 85% said their council supported their community at least to some extent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, we warned that the contribution of parish and town councils often remains under-recognised within national resilience structures.
We are also urging the government to look outward, drawing on international examples of best practice where local and regional authorities are more fully integrated into resilience planning. Learning from how other countries engage their localities could help the UK reduce regional inequalities and respond to crises in a more cohesive and effective way.
We maintain that stronger collaboration between national and local government, alongside better integration of the private sector, will be essential to addressing strategic gaps in the UK's preparedness.
As the UK continues to confront both immediate and long-term challenges, our message is clear that parish and town councils are the unsung heroes of local resilience and unlocking their full potential will be critical to building a more adaptable, responsive, and resilient nation.
