What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development can be described as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Sustainable development can be used as a route to better council decision making and delivering better council services. It is about ensuring well-being and a better quality of life, thinking about the impacts of today’s actions on future generations and protecting and enhancing the natural and built environment by learning to live within environmental limits.
Publication: 'Sustainable Development Framework: An Introduction'
Why is sustainable development important for local government?
Under the Local Government Act 2000, Councils have been charged with “promoting the social, economic and environmental well-being of their area and producing community strategies which contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK”. Social, economic and environmental well-being is directly related to sustainable development. In essence, everything a Council does should assist in the continuing sustainability of their local area and the delivery of a more sustainable Wales.
Sustainable local policy should ensure that:
- a holistic view of planning and service delivery takes into account the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability;
- future trends, for example climate change impacts, are taken into account and that planning is for the long-term;
- impacts beyond the local area are considered;
- local people and communities are engaged in the process of decision-making through participative systems or governance.
Sustainable Development has already been adopted as their central organising principle by the Welsh Assembly Government. This should also be the central principle for local government and all public sector activity.
What does the WLGA Sustainable Development Framework offer?
The Sustainable Development Framework seeks to provide practical guidance at both a corporate and service level on delivering sustainable development. It aims to make sustainable development relevant and simple and to illustrate that its principles and outcomes lie at the heart of good governance. The Framework includes direct assistance to individual local authorities and Local Service Boards, as well as publications and seminars, and the following online components:
Corporate Modules: Provide guidance on mainstreaming sustainability and aligning corporate functions towards the delivery of sustainable development.
Service Modules: Provide a reference point for service managers, illustrating what sustainable development means for that service or function, and how it can be used to deliver more sustainable and effective cross-coordinating services.
Resources Sheets: A series of information sheets aimed a policy officers to provide and evidence base and build capacity and understanding on a number sustainability issues.
Futures Trends: There are critical external factors, including demographic and climate change, energy security, food security, migration and obesity, which will affect the well-being and quality of life of communities in the future. Such trends, or ‘futures issues’ will have a significant impact on the types of, and way that, authorities will need to deliver services. Under the WLGA Sustainable Development Framework we are offering assistance to a number of local authorities to review their planning and service delivery in the light of knowledge of the impact of future trends on Council services.
Futures work also includes Community Centred Risk Management which explores the 'primary strategic risks' in terms of events, patterns and trends in social, economic and environmental contexts that either threaten the sustainable well-being of communities, or offer opportunities for its enhancement. We are working with some Local Service Boards to assist in assessing and managing these risks.
Publication: 'Future Trends and Horizon Scanning'
One of the aims of the Sustainable Development Framework is to promote and share our work. There are many examples of sustainable development good practice in local government in Wales. The WLGA seeks to promote good practice in sustainable development and is providing a web page to store this information. If you want to add to the examples on the web page, please contact: gill.clark@wlga.gov.uk
Publication: Sustainable Development Business Plan 2010 - 2011
For more information contact: Gill Clark