Resilence effort to be rolled out to test Stirling's storm response in wake of damning Storm Arwen report

dailyrecord.co.uk:

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.Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.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