AN EVACUEE of the Chobham Common fires has criticised the lack of communication to residents from his local parish council.

Duncan Rayner was asked on Friday, August 7, to leave his home in Onslow Road, Sunningdale due to the large fire spreading just a couple of minutes away.

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The resident has quizzed Sunningdale Parish Council for their lack of "presence" and claims there was a lack of communication from the emergency services in terms of evacuating people from the area.

He said: "We returned to our house on Saturday morning, made sure it was safe, and stayed Saturday night. "We have lived in Onslow Road for over 40 years and fires on the common are a regular occurrence.

"Surprisingly, despite the evacuation of over 60 households, the Parish Council representatives were nowhere to be seen. They have an emergency plan of which I am part for such incidents."

The Parish Council has acknowledged how difficult it must have been for residents during the fire.

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As well as this, an emergency plan had been updated in March 2018 to remove the historical emergency contacts included in a parish plan and utilise Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to lead the way.

Ruth Davies, parish clerk, said: "It has been a difficult time for many residents who live within the vicinity of Wentworth and Chobham Common and it is down to the professionalism of the emergency services that such a serious event was managed as efficiently as it was. The parish council was aware of the emergency taking place on Friday and Saturday and also that the RBWM emergency response team along with all other relevant services were present on site.

"As it was, the borough team utilised Charters School as their emergency centre and this was more than adequate to meet the needs of the emergency.

"Working with the borough council in this way allows a multi-agency approach, putting the best equipped services to the front and should the parish council be required then we would be included by the triage of emergency responders.