A new programme to test Scotland’s response to and recovery from severe weather ahead of next winter, will be run over the summer.
It comes after a damning report earlier this month criticised energy companies’ handling of Storm Arwen after thousands were cut off for several days without power – including people across Stirling.
Energy regulator Ofgem published its report into the response to the storm following a six-month review and made a series of recommendations aimed at ensuring the same level of disruption does not happen again.
During Storm Arwen, in November last year, around 350 homes were left without power for a full week after strong winds brought down trees and power lines, with areas including Killin, Callander, Doune and Port of Menteith also seeing supplies cut off after main routes were blocked.
The new Winter Preparedness Programme will be led by the Scottish Resilience Partnership (SRP) and is one of a series of measures following the devastating storm to ensure Scotland is better prepared for significant weather events.
During the storm, winds in parts of Stirling reached 96 miles per hour.
It was estimated that 16 million trees were lost or damaged across Scotland, while Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) estimated 135,000 homes lost power with some in rural Stirling only reconnected after seven days.
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Stirling SNP MSP Evelyn Tweed welcomed the new programme, saying: “This is good news for the people of Stirling, I’m pleased to see storm resilience is being prioritised by the Scottish Government.
“I’m also pleased to hear Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, is listening to what was discussed in the debate I led in February about the response to Storm Arwen – which left thousands of people without heating, power or communication for many days.
“The storm uncovered huge gaps in our country’s ability to deal with severe weather events, with my office’s survey at the time showing 32 per cent of Stirling’s residents didn’t feel their household was prepared for a storm. We can and must do much better than this.
“I look forward to meeting with to meeting with SSEN over the summer to discuss their preparations for this coming winter, and I’m hopeful that the rollout of the Winter Preparedness Programme will result in Scotland’s homes and residents moving into the winter period in a much stronger position against future storms.”
Other measures resulting from the review include: a new online learning and training hub to help individuals, community groups and the voluntary sector to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies; the development of a new process to monitor and evaluate Scotland’s resilience system annually to ensure issues are identified and resolved quickly and effectively out with severe weather events; an information-sharing system to identify and provide swift support for vulnerable people in an area affected by severe weather; and increased integration and engagement with voluntary sector, and expansion of local directories of assets and capabilities to support resilience activity.
Ofgem’s report into the storm response was critical of the “unacceptable” length of time people remained off power, the “poor” communication received from network operators and the length of time it took for compensation payments to be dished out.
The report also found that while some companies did kick their emergency plans into place before Arwen took hold, these were viewed as “not sufficient” to deal with the damage caused by the storm.
A trio of operators – including Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) – have already paid £34million in compensation and have now agreed to pay another £10.3m in ‘voluntary redress payments’ to affected communities.
