Places for people to gather in case of major emergencies are being planned across Wiltshire.

The council's Community Resilience team is suggesting to town councils to set up emergency hubs in case of disasters like floods or widescale power outages.

The scheme would see staff set up in existing buildings to offer information and a safe space to people during times of crisis.

Wiltshire Council has not yet revealed all the towns this is being proposed for but so far it is under consideration by councils in South West Wiltshire, Marlborough and Trowbridge.

A document proposing the idea to council’s says: “In a disaster/emergency widespread damage to utilities, buildings, trees and roads is likely to cause issues across the county.

“Our emergency services will be dealing with the most urgent concerns, so your local community will be the most immediate source of support and help.

“An Emergency Contact Hub is your communities place to go and help one another in an emergency.

“They are fitted around whatever your community wants them to be, but primarily they are designed so that community members can help themselves, but also have a linkage into the emergency services in your local area."

It adds: “In an emergency the responding agencies will be heavily stretched, where they must prioritise urgent calls.

“Many of the minor issues can actually be resolved by the community themselves, often with just a little organisation or information required.

“The Emergency Contact Hub is to build on and enhance what is already in place in the community.

“It is not designed, nor does it intend to remove any levels of responsibility that already exist that support our society.

“The fundamental purpose of the Emergency Contact Hubs is that the community can come together to help one another, but also enabling the emergency responders and community groups to feed information to one another.”

It goes on to say: “In general, the hub is run by the community for the community.

“It uses the community venues themselves and is predominantly staffed by community volunteers. It’s essentially a place for the community to come and help each other.

“Each hub will have an emergency pack which will give some suggestions on roles e.g., supervisor and welfare, but these do not need to be stuck too and can be altered to whatever suits the group.

“There is also no requirement to predefine people to roles, the system works so that you can open up and get started from there.”