Security Minister visits resilience forum members covering Leicestershire and Rutland
Members of the Local Resilience Forum (LRF) who work to mitigate risks across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, including flooding, have been visited by Security Minister Dan Jarvis.
The visit comes ahead of the UK government’s launch of its national resilience campaign later this year.
During his visit to Leicester, the Minister learned more about the Risk Ready community resilience programme for LLR which was launched in March 2026, as a partnership between the LRF, Communities Prepared and Groundwork Five Counties.
Mr Jarvis took part in a Risk Ready community resilience workshop, where he spoke with residents from across LLR, along with representatives from local authorities, emergency services, voluntary organisations and community groups.
He also met members of a community previously affected by flooding who have worked closely with partner agencies to reduce their flood risk by learning how to install their own pop-up flood barriers.
Minister Jarvis said: “The Local Resilience Forum for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is doing excellent work to raise awareness of simple steps households can take to stay safe in everyday emergencies, like extreme storms or flooding.
“It was a privilege to meet with local residents and hear about the way the community is working together to build temporary flood defences and guard against flood risk.”
LRF manager, Mark Warden, said: “We can all do our bit to make ourselves and our communities more resilient to risks.
“Simple actions, like checking in on your neighbours, mean that you can act faster in an emergency, and recover more quickly.”
The LRF advises all households to take simple actions including checking in on vulnerable neighbours and keeping a supply of bottled water and tinned food.
It offers free support, workshops, webinars and resources to help local people and communities be better prepared for key local risks like flooding, severe weather, utility outages and more.
People can sign up now for a free webinar to help them prepare for utility outages – the session will be repeated so people can choose their preferred date and time.
‘Preparing for utility outages’ is on Tuesday September 29, from 2pm to 3.30pm and is repeated on Wednesday October 14, 6.30pm to 8pm.
Go to www.llrresilienceforum.org.uk/risk-ready-communities to find out more and sign up for webinars.