Empowering communities: sustainable development at a local level
A new report from the Sustainable Development Commission finds that the promotion of localism, fairness, freedom and responsibility under the Big Society agenda has the potential to effectively deliver not just social and economic, but also environmental, benefits at a local level.
The Future is Local: Empowering communities to improve their neighbourhoods examines how the sustainability of existing neighbourhoods can be improved and reports evidence that communities themselves must be empowered to deliver change:
“Enabling communities to lead local renewal projects with a neighbourhood-scale approach is the most cost-effective way to ensure our villages, towns and cities are fit for the future and create the conditions for people to thrive.”
The report is the culmination of a year’s work, reviewing over 100 case studies; working with three task groups of 50 experts from the fields of community engagement, delivery, and finance; and commissioning technical research.
Combining localism and environmentalism
The approach proposes an environmental dimension to the government’s Big Society agenda and a clear vision for the drive to localism, outlining the key support needed from all parts of Government to enable neighbourhoods to deliver an integrated, area based approach, and the options for financing this.
Cost-effective sustainable development
The report’s findings include many useful pointers to ensure that the environmental and social potential of community action is delivered:
- Improving our existing places in an integrated, area-based approach will deliver energy efficiency and wider sustainability benefits such as improving health, reducing crime, and creating local jobs, as well as saving money
- The greatest benefits and cost-efficiencies will be achieved through delivering these improvements at the neighbourhood scale with community leadership
- Communities should be supported to work in partnership with local authorities, infrastructure owners and other key stakeholders, including utility suppliers/generators, private businesses & investors
- Government support will be required, but significant cost savings to the public sector can be achieved
- Public sector funding support may be most effective at the early scoping and development stages of projects, for example to underwrite projects.
Further reading
- The Future is Local: the report, summary and supporting materials can be downloaded from the Sustainable Development Commission.
- The Big Society Network
You may also be interested in...
- Sustainable Development 2012: Communities for a low carbon future
- Inspiring and enabling communities: the Integrated Local Delivery model for localism and the environment
User comments
Do you have a comment on this page?
All comments are moderated: we will not publish irrelevant or inappropriate comments. Please note that we require your email to validate your message and will not publish it or use it for any other purpose.
-
News and independent comment on sustainable development
Sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter 
Latest news and features- Resources round-up: climate factsheets, green procurement, policy database, wellbeing evidence, standards 15 May, 2012
- News round-up: Natural Capital Committee, NEA’s international impact, investment in green infrastructure… 8 May, 2012
- New calendar and archive of events and publications 8 May, 2012
- Habitats and Wild Birds Directives review findings 8 May, 2012
- Humankind Index for Scotland measures prosperity beyond GDP 7 May, 2012
So in other words we are better off without a Sustainable Development Commission.
Well, what a surprise, the sustainable development commission is about to change its name to the ‘The Big Sustainable Society’, or is that me being rather cynical? If your promotion of Sustainability at a local level is to get off the ground, then it must come from ground level and not be a smoke screen for the top-down delivery of government imposed policy of cost cutting and penny pinching, disguised as a sustainable future vision. Having spent many hours trying to interest existing local organisations to participate in the notion of sustainability I have found the word ‘sustainable’ is more likely to switch people off, and not on to a better, greener, eviromentally friendlier future.
A sustainable community can only work effectively through the combined efforts of voluntary organisations in partnerships with the authorities and other agencies in order to meet national indicators.
The third sector is reliant on the provision of adequate opportunities to secure funding. They will not survive if starved of the financial werewithall to meet the delivery needs required when striving with others to improve the quality of life for those in their areas of benefit.