www.sustainable-development.gov.uk - The Government's sustainable development website, providing guidance and thought provoking ideas on pursuing a more sustainable path  
Home | Contact Us | A-Z | Help

Advice and support for local government:
Local leadership for sustainable development

 


Creating genuinely sustainable communities requires determined action at the local level. This page includes information, case studies and links on the mechanisms in place to help local authorities embed sustainable development into their communties.

Defra and the LGA have recently published a new guide for local councils. Sustainable Communities: a shared agenda a share of the action (PDF) to help local councils improve quality of life, tackle climate change and work towards environmental sustainability. Some local authorities are already beginning to create genuinely sustainable communities. Follow the links below to find out how they are putting sustainability into practice:

What are LSPs, sustainable community strategies and LAAs?

How to embed sustainability into Local Strategic Partnerships

"Delivering sustainable communities is the core purpose of sustainable community strategies and local strategic partnerships." Local strategic partnerships: Shaping their future, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consultation paper (Dec 05).

LSPs are being required to take an increasingly responsible, strategic role in delivering genuinely sustainable communities, providing as they do the opportunity to work across agencies and with the inclusion of those who live and work in the community they serve.

It is the job of LSPs to focus the resources - financial and otherwise - of a local area and central Government, to turn the vision of the sustainable community strategy into real changes on the ground.

There are many demands placed on LSPs and support is required if they are to fulfil their role of creating genuinely sustainable communities. Through the Academy for Sustainable Communities and others, Government is developing resources and training to support LSPs in delivering sustainable development. Below are two reports on the development of training for LSPs.

How to create a vision with a sustainable community strategy

Sustainable community strategies have a vital role to play in helping to deliver genuinely sustainable communities.

All councils and LSPs have a community strategy in place. The challenge now is to turn these into sustainable community strategies by developing a stronger focus on integrating social, economic and environmental issues and by tackling the longer-term and global impacts of communities.

A number of local authorities have already begun to embed sustainable development into their community strategies (see 'Making it Happen' below).

How to deliver sustainability through a local area agreement

"The primary objective of an LAA is to deliver genuinely sustainable communities through better outcomes for local people." What is a local area agreement? guidance for round 3, ODPM (March 06).

Local area agreements are already taking forward changes to local public services and delivering on many aspects of sustainable development including waste, climate change, biodiversity and renewable energy. However, not all local authorities have taken up the challenge of LAAs and there is much scope for sustainable development to become more integrated into area agreements.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published a short guide for local authorities and their partners on how LAAs can be used to deliver genuinely sustainable communities. The guide, part of the ODPM's LAA Toolkit, includes many practical ideas and case studies of sustainability in action, drawing on the experience of the first two rounds of LAAs. Download the short guide here

Some examples of outcomes and indicators included in second round LAAs which will help to deliver sustainable communities can be downloaded here. These include outcomes/indicators to tackle waste, climate change, flooding and encourage business and communities to contribute to environmental goals. These outcomes/indicators will be of particular interest to those LAAs currently being negotiated.

The following examples, demonstrate how some local authorities have used LAAs to help
deliver sustainable development.

Making it happen  

The Sustainable Development Unit in Defra has developed a note (PDF) that gives some background information to enable Local Authorities and Local Strategic Partnerships to carry out a light touch Sustainability Appraisal.

Further information

  • Local Area Agreements And The Environment (Sept 05): Joint report between the LGA and DEFRA, providing examples of ways in which to join up environmental outcomes with other social and economic priorities for your area.
  • Mainstreaming Sustainability (2004 ), Resource Pack, WWF and IDeA. Shows how the modernisation structures - community strategies, best value, LSPs can promote sustainable development.

What are LSPs, sustainable community strategies and LAAs?

Government has put in place a number of mechanisms to help local authorities deliver sustainable communities on the ground:

  • Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) : Brings together the views of the local private, voluntary and community sectors with the sustainable community strategy in an area, to turn the vision of a sustainable community into a reality.
  • Sustainable Community Strategy: Creates a long-term, sustainable vision in an area and sets the agenda for priorities in the local area agreement.
  • Local Area Agreement (LAA) : A three year 'contract' between a local area (represented by the local authority and other partners through the local strategic partnership) and central Government to deliver particular priorities as set out in its sustainable community strategy.

 


Useful links

 
 

Updated: 20 December 2007

 
© Crown copyright 2005 | Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Directgov