|
SD-scene
is the bi-monthly newsletter highlighting progress being made in sustainable
development. To sign up for the newsletter, enter your details
on the home page.
Where they lead…
The Government’s sustainable development strategy Securing the Future describes a sustainable community as “combing social inclusion, homes, jobs, services, infrastructure and respect for the environment to create places where people will want to live and work now and in the future.”
Helping to make the UK a place of truly sustainable communities are a small army of committed and enthusiastic individuals and organisations. This issue’s Whatever Next? goes on tour to celebrate some of the work being done by them - regionally, locally and at a grassroots level.
- Leading the way
- Sustainable streets
- Down in the wood
- The Shropshire Way
- Real local heroes
Leading the way
”Partnership is the way we do things in Leeds,” says Kathy Kudelnitzky, director of the Leeds Initiative, the city’s award-winning Local Strategic Partnership. The Initiative, winners of the recent Sustainable Communities Award for Partnership brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors in Leeds behind a strong vision for the city.
The vision everyone is working towards is for Leeds to ‘go up a league as a city’ - making it an internationally competitive city. As important though is ‘narrowing the gap’ between the most disadvantaged people and communities and the rest of the city. It’s also currently developing a climate change strategy for the city.
Leadership in Leeds: Kathy Kudelnitzky, director of the Leeds Initiative
“Partnership is the way we do things in Leeds. There must be several hundred organisations affiliated to the Leeds Initiative now, all taking part in different ways, and all helping to shape the way the city moves forward. There’s a huge amount of local ownership. Even though the Leeds Initiative began with a role that was focused primarily on promoting the economic life of the city, by the mid 1990s we began to expand that into the social agenda. That’s now at the heart of how we view things here - how the city progresses to benefit poorer communities. For example, our Skills Board is looking at how we can both benefit the city and address issues such as unemployment. We feel like we have an open way of doing things but there’s more work to be done on how we engage with the third sector. Increasingly we’re looking at how they can contribute more.” |
Sustainable streets
A successful partnership also lies behind another attempt to create a sustainable community, albeit on a much smaller scale. Tachbrook Triangle is a small housing development on an odd-shaped piece of brownfield land in South London.
The scheme presented a number of challenges to the architects Assael not least because it included a row of listed Georgian houses that needed to be incorporated into the design. A new GPs surgery was also identified as a key service that was needed in the area and so the architects worked with Westminster primary care trust to build one in. For bringing these and other elements of sustainable design together, Tachbrook Triangle recently won the Building Sustainable Communities Award.
Building it right: Russell Pedley, director of Assael Architects
“Sustainability is a very important part of the design. On the environmental side, we wanted to create naturally ventilated areas and design in lots of natural light. Reusing brownfield, redundant land is also a key thing. On the social side, we made sure there are good large terraces and balconies for people. The front of the building is also designed to make room for people to stop and talk, and to provide good ‘natural surveillance’, especially as it’s in an area which has been run down for some time and where the fear of crime is high. It’s a socially sustainable building in that we tried to design an urban block that was respectful to all the different characters around the site.
For more inspiring cases of partnership working and local leadership in action, check out the rest of the winners of the Sustainable Communities Awards (PDF), sponsored by Defra. |
Down in the wood
Social sustainability is also a key concern of the body charged with helping to reinvigorate communities across some 200 square miles of central England. The National Forest Company (NFC) is at the centre of a bold project to transform parts of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire into the National Forest.
Fifteen years ago councils and communities, the Countryside Commission and others in the area came together to create the forest in an area badly affected by the decline in mining. As Sophie Churchill, chief executive of the NFC explains: “There were parts that were really like a lunar landscape, and people didn’t know where the next generation was going to find its livelihood.” Since then the NFC - working with regional, county level and local bodies as well as community groups - has helped transform the forest's communities into places with a diversity of economic activity, which are attracting newcomers.
In recognition, the National Forest Company was recently awarded the inaugural SDUK Award for best practice in sustainable development. A report published by the NFC last July, The National Forest: an exemplar of Sustainable Development (PDF) demonstrates how it is creating this change and shows the significant progress being made on issues such as tackling climate change, social justice and employment.
Working together: Sophie Churchill, Chief Executive of the National Forest Company
The origin of the National Forest was always to use forestry to drive social and economic regeneration. It very much came from local people. They said they wanted this project. In the early days community groups were made up of people affected by the end of the mining industry. But in the last five to ten years we’ve seen the next generation of social engagement. For example, a village in the centre of the forest has re-established its village festival. People didn’t think there would be a high street full of people again but the festival’s really reinvigorated that village. There are also social and community groups that are all about getting people active in the forest, through things like led walks. The NFC is also starting to develop young people in the area to become forestry and woodland contractors. Sustainable development is about working collectively. |
The Shropshire way
The sparse population in the large, rural county of Shropshire also presents its own challenges when it comes to creating sustainable communities. Nevertheless, Shropshire County Council has been working steadily for years with its residents on projects to reduce their carbon emissions and collective environmental footprint. One current initiative is its innovative Low Carbon Communities project. By guiding local communities through tailored energy saving plans, including the installation of energy efficiency measures and small scale renewable technologies, the project aims to reduce CO2 emissions year-on-year by 2 per cent per annum by 2009.
“The great thing about working with community groups is that you are then really taking things down to the community level,” explains Penny Spencer at Shropshire County Council. “You’re developing champions and enthusiasts who will then spread the word far more effectively than anything you can do as a local authority because they are there, on the ground.”
Championing sustainable energy: Penny Spencer, Corporate director, economy and environment at Shropshire County Council
“The drive and leadership for the work we’re doing in the sustainable energy field really comes from some very enthusiastic and dedicated staff in the County Council and Marches Energy Agency [the local sustainable energy and climate change social enterprise] who believe passionately in sustainability. It also comes from a commitment on a political level. Shropshire County Council has been doing a lot of work in the sustainable energy field for some time. We were one of the first signatories to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change and in 2002 we developed climate change strategies both at a community and corporate level. We then achieved beacon council status in sustainable energy and have helped to mentor other local authorities on the issue. It’s because were a big rural county that everyone is very conscious of these issues. The environment is such a big part of what makes Shropshire unique.” |
Real local heroes
Tapping into this local enthusiasm is key to achieving social and environmental change. It’s one of the key principles behind the Defra-funded initiative Every Action Counts, which works to enable community groups to play their part by providing advice and support to voluntary and community organisations.
The initiative is currently in the process of recruiting Every Action Counts Community Champions. These are the enthusiasts that spread the word with other community groups, local clubs and societies in their area. They are trained, supported and given a range of activities and materials to inspire people to take on simple actions, such as saving energy, green travel, ethical shopping and recycling.
Anyone can become a Community Champion - you just need a little time and the enthusiasm to encourage others to take action. One Champion, Donna Mear, has this in spades. She has been volunteering on community and environmental projects in Tyneside for more than seven years and signing up seemed to her like an obvious step.
Tyneside’s Community Champion, Donna Meer
“Now climate change is on everyone’s agenda, signing up to become a Community Champion seemed like an obvious step. The training introduced us to lots of games and activities which we could use with a range of ages. Instead of just asking groups to reduce their carbon footprint, we used a game to build up a list of actions in a more light-hearted way. They worked out their actions for themselves rather than me having to make suggestions. It also made climate change apply to everyone, whatever their level of knowledge or understanding. It’s easy to enthuse children over the issue – their eyes light up when you start showing them little projects, like one we’re currently working on to build a solar car.” |
Where to go for more
For more information on becoming a Community Champion, visit the Every Action Counts website or take a look at the collection of inspiring stories on different community groups doing their bit.
The EAC website also contains a series of practical guides on sustainable development for voluntary organisations and training materials for community development workers.
|
