UK Round Table on Sustainable Development

Fifth Annual Report

Section 2. Recent Topics

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

2.1 In the debate on sustainable development, most attention has focused on large companies. However small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have much to offer in this area, progressing the economic, social and environmental agendas. The Round Table was keen to explore what contribution such firms could make and how they might be encouraged to do so.

2.2 The study focused principally on small firms (less than 50 employees), identifying three key areas: education and awareness raising for people in general, communicating with small firms and incentives for action.

There now appears to be consensus on the definition of 'sustainable development', whether it is based on the 'needs' of society (Brundtland, 1987) or the 'quality of life' (World Conservation Union, 1991; UK government 1999). Consensus also appears to exist on the principles underlying these definitions: the political involvement of all groups of stakeholders in society; that human wellbeing depends on more than income growth; integration of environmental protection and efficient use of resources with economic development; meeting the needs of the disadvantaged in society; and 'futurity': explicit concern about the impact of current activity on future generations.

The contest arises on how these principles are to met be in practice. Now that 'sustainable development' is a legal term (see, for example, the statutory obligation of the Environment Agency) it may be that the contest will take place in the Courts. None of the principles is dispensable however; fulfilment of them all is fundamental to sustainable development. For that to be achieved probably the principle of involvement at all levels of society is the most crucial.

Pamela Castle

2.3 The principal conclusion was the need to raise the level of general awareness about sustainable development of the UK population as a whole. Small firms are, arguably, more heavily influenced by the personal values of those who manage and work in them than are larger companies. Once those in small firms understand and accept the principles of sustainable development and the opportunities it presents, they might start to look for more information. The process of working towards sustainable development would then become one of 'pull' from many small firms rather than 'push' from a few interested groups.

2.4 A large number of initiatives seek to encourage SMEs to improve their environmental performance. Most have met with limited success. Any initiative aimed at small firms will need to gain their attention by being developed and publicised from their perspective and targeted to meet their needs. Further such initiatives should be better co-ordinated; the Regional Development Agencies, along with the new Small Business Service agency, could play a valuable role in this.

2.5 There is scope for small firms to improve the efficiency with which they use energy and other resources. One way of encouraging this would be to provide a tax incentive, funded by revenue from the 'climate change levy' on business. Such a scheme should be considered as part of a range of measures which might include free audits and the development of new technology. Another way of encouraging greater action is through sustainable procurement policies which should be devised to apply to, and encourage the participation of, small firms.

2.6 Many small firms have difficulty in identifying and keeping up to date with the regulations relevant to them. Advice or incentives should be the preferred options for influencing small firms, with regulatory controls introduced only if really necessary. Where legislation is introduced, it should be developed with small firms in mind and be applied with effective but sensitive monitoring.

2.7 The stakeholder approach to business development can give rise to particular benefits for small firms, but the concept needs to be simplified if small firms are to engage in it.

2.8 The Round Table makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1 All responsible bodies, led by the Government, should work to encourage life-long learning in the area of sustainable development, utilising all available opportunities to promote the message of its importance. Those in the media should consider how they can contribute to this.
Recommendation 2 Banks, business advisors and others should utilise the process of providing business start-up information to supply useful advice related to sustainable development and the opportunities it presents to those starting up new companies. Managers of these organisations should provide training at all levels to enable staff to be effective in this area.
Recommendation 3 Regional Development Agencies, perhaps supported by the new Small Business Service, should guide Business Links and other statutory and voluntary groups within their region, to provide advice to small firms about sustainable development including their environmental performance. They should seek to ensure that a co-ordinated service with a coherent message of sustainable development - incorporating social, economic and environmental elements - is delivered by all bodies.
Recommendation 4 The Government, through the Small Business Service, should facilitate a forum to provide a national co-ordinating function for those who advise and encourage small firms to make progress towards sustainable development, including improvement of their environmental performance.
Recommendation 5 As part of the initiative to promote energy efficiency using funds from the proposed 'climate change levy', the Government should consider the feasibility of introducing a tax incentive for SMEs along the lines of the proposal outlined in this report.
Recommendation 6 Central and local government bodies should seek to develop sustainable procurement policies which provide opportunities to consider not only environmental criteria but also local economic development and the achievement of sustainable employment practices. They should encourage participation of small firms, by adopting a partnership approach. Private firms and other organisations should consider the extent to which they can adopt similar policies.
Recommendation 7 Regulators should be responsive to the needs of small firms, providing guidance to clarify business obligations and advice on how to meet them.
Recommendation 8 The Environment Agency in England and Wales, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, should co-ordinate and promote the development of guidance for small firms on environmental legislation at two levels: a 'route map' and specific sectoral guidance.
Recommendation 9 The Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors, Chambers of Commerce and other bodies representing small firms should encourage their members to adopt a stakeholder approach.

Sustainable development to me means the 'triple bottom-line'. Wealth creation continues to be of fundamental importance, but it must go alongside social and environmental responsibilities. Getting the balance right will increasingly give an optimum bottom line acceptable to all stakeholders. Natural resources must be used sensibly and sensitively and the environment must be managed sympathetically for the benefit of future generations.

Successful, competitive companies of the future will be those which use natural resources wisely, minimise their environmental impacts, value their employees and build partnership with the community around them.

Chris Fay

Response to Consultation Document on the Sustainable Development Commission

2.9 The Round Table, together with DETR, convened a seminar in September 1999 to discuss the Department's proposals for the Sustainable Development Commission. The Round Table considered the points raised in the seminar and agreed a response to the proposals. This is reproduced at Annex C.

Planning for Sustainable Development in the 21st Century
A contribution to a study by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Summary of the Round Table's paper

2.10 The land use planning system has a crucial part to play in securing sustainable development. The creation of new buildings and changes in the use of land shape the physical world of the future and influence the way people will live their lives in it. The planning system is one of the few current mechanisms which clearly links national goals with local ones; which gives an opportunity for issues to be examined 'in the round'; and which allows, indeed encourages, public participation in decision making. These positive existing traits of the system reflect the concept and process of sustainable development. It is important that they are retained and developed further.

2.11 Local planning authorities are not masters of their own destiny. The national governments play a significant role in the preparation of plans by local authorities and decide individual applications in cases they call in. National planning policy guidance should have sustainable development at its heart (as should the planning system as a whole), not as a bolt on extra.

2.12 Much development that society needs does not happen without public investment. Yet, public investment is managed through almost unrelated processes, at both the national and local levels. Some Government-funded developments in fact run counter to sustainable development goals.

Can a process of sustainable development ensure a better standard of life for everyone now and for generations to come?

To date the evidence available is weighted against the proposition that it is possible to maintain high and stable levels of economic growth without having a consequent negative effect on the protection of the environment and the prudent use of natural resources.

Therefore if we are to make the world a fairer and more sustainable place a positive change is required of all of us. A change in the way we grow our economies and societies. A change which means taking inequities seriously and ensuring that those with least gain most in both economic and environmental terms.

A world which continues to develop in unsustainable ways will be a highly dangerous place for everyone.

Brian Hanna

2.13 One of the most powerful strengths of planning, as a deliverer of sustainable development, is the discretion in the hands of decision takers to weigh all the aspects of the development - social, economic and environmental - in reaching a decision. But that discretion can be constrained by other, more detailed, codes and regulatory regimes.

2.14 Market forces are very good at identifying and delivering relatively short-term economic benefits. But they cannot be relied upon to deliver the social and environmental components of sustainable development, except where those components contribute to the profitability of the development itself. Nor do they necessarily deliver the best long-term outcomes: realisation of the community's vision. The Round Table welcomes the attempts that have been made to secure a longer term vision to guide decisions on where and how to develop, but notes that those who own the system, and the public, often find it hard to look beyond the immediate planning application. The system remains reactive and fails to inspire people and developers to work together for a sustainable society.

Sustainable development has come a long way in the last ten years. If not yet part of every day language (and is it reasonable to think that it ever will be?) it is now incontrovertibly entering the mainstream of politics and business. Over the next ten years we will see this mainstreaming continue, embedding the ideas of sustainability into a wide range of decision-making systems. I hope we will also get many more people beyond simply defining sustainable development as the integration of economic, environmental and social considerations in policy choices - "net future value". I expect to see the ideas of natural and social capital figure more immediately in decision making and the links between eco-efficiency and economic performance become increasingly important. One enormous challenge which will stay with us for the foreseeable future is how our society handles risk and the perception of risk and the distorting impact this has on the ability of our politics to address long-term choices.

Sir John Harman

2.15 The Round Table believes that it is time to develop a new approach to planning, which would start from a process of rigorous consultation. Decisions need to be taken at the most appropriate level of competence. At regional and national levels new ways of engaging the interest of the public will be needed. At local government level, the planning process can use active community-led processes to identify the kind of community (and its physical manifestation) that people want to see evolve in the next twenty years. It would go on to guide, encourage and incentivise communities and developers to work within the spirit of this plan, rather than seeking to drive ahead on their own lines against the spirit of sustainable development or the plan.

2.16 The proposed local authority community planning process could provide a powerful local mandate for the land use planning system. The Round Table believes that formal links should be established between these two planning processes, and this should be central to the Government's community planning proposals.

2.17 The guiding instrument for these approaches should be a new duty for local authorities in respect of sustainable development, which the Round Table and others have urged. We welcome the provisions of the current Local Government Bill (clauses 2-4) which take a step towards this, including a power for authorities to enter into partnerships with other bodies which could be significant in the context of the Royal Commission's study. But we have urged the Government to go further, and to:

2.18 How these powers and strategy should be integrated with the planning system is a key issue. As the Round Table conceives it, the sustainable development/action plan should not be a replacement or substitute for national planning guidance, regional planning guidance, or development plans. It should inform and guide them at the appropriate level. It should also guide and influence all the other relevant functional and spending plans of local and national government. A sustainable development strategy should be the central strategy, and the focus around which political leaders seek to establish consensus on key actions which can be taken forward with major developers as drivers for change in their areas.

2.19 A stronger role for positive land use planning will also require some stronger tools to deliver positive results - tools for land assembly and decontamination, tools to ensure that developments address all the local social and environmental impacts they impose, economic instruments to discourage greenfield development where suitable brownfield sites could be made available, and more imaginative building regulations to force the pace of change towards truly sustainable buildings.

2.20 The Round Table invites the Royal Commission to consider the following specific problems:

Not Too Difficult! - Economic instruments to promote sustainable development within a modernised economy

2.21 The case for progress towards a modernised, sustainable economy is persuasive. Economic instruments for the delivery of environmental and wider sustainable development objectives can play an important role. They are in many cases the most efficient and effective means for achieving a desired objective. They have been shown to work in a wide variety of contexts, in many countries. There is a strong case for further developing their use in the UK. While some initiatives have been developed, it is essential that additional credible policy initiatives are made ready for implementation early in the next Parliament. It is important to maintain momentum in this area.

2.22 But economic instruments are rarely effective alone. They need to form part of complementary packages of measures which may include regulation, negotiated agreements, public and consumer information, specific use of the revenues raised by a tax and general public spending programmes. There is a need to target economic instruments, as part of such packages, at those areas where the UK sustainable development indicators show we have most progress to make.

2.23 Though much progress has been made in introducing economic instruments for sustainable development, the barriers to faster progress have been considerable. These barriers stem from concerns about social equity, international competitiveness and the environmental inefficiency of some economic instruments. Some of these concerns result from real impacts, others are about perceived impacts. Measures exist which can mitigate these impacts and help overcome barriers, though it is often easier to deal with the real rather than the perceived concerns. In the case of real impacts, there are successful examples of mitigating measures and complementary packages of measures from the UK and internationally. For perceived impacts, there needs to be a process for handling the identification, development and implementation of a tax or other instrument, and building support for it.

2.24 The Round Table believes that the process by which sustainable development taxes and associated measures are identified, developed, negotiated and introduced is fundamental to whether they are able to be introduced effectively. The principles of such a process are explored in the report.

I do not want to offer my own definition of sustainable development: Brundtland will do, and it is in any case a blind alley debate. Rather, I want to set out my vision for where we must be in 2005. There are many potential measures of success, but two will do. First, all investment decisions, public, private and voluntary, will be fundamentally based on the principles of sustainable development; not as a sop to those principles. Second, I want to see the principles of sustainable development having a real impact on changing people's lives in the world's poorest communities. If these two things happen, we really will be making a difference

Tony Hawkhead

2.25 A sustainable modernised economy could be characterised by:

2.26 To achieve this means seeking long-term strategic change in the economy. This report focuses on the use of sustainable development economic instruments to help achieve such change and demonstrates how short-term barriers to progress can be addressed in ways which are economically, socially and politically manageable.

2.27 Areas which particularly need attention to reverse unsustainable trends, and where economic instruments may have a part to play, include: energy, traffic and transport, agriculture, waste management, consumption and consumer behaviour, and poverty and social exclusion.

2.28 The Round Table makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1. The Government should initiate processes of updating the Sustainable Development Strategy and integrate these more closely with the Budget and spending planning processes. For each main objective of the Strategy, targets and timetables for improvement should be established, particularly where the indicators show that the present situation is unsustainable or that trends are in the wrong direction. Business groups, consumer organisations, social charities and NGOs should be widely and actively consulted on the mechanisms for achieving the sustainability targets, possibly after the publication of Green Papers or strategy documents. Economic and policy analysis should then identify where and to what extent economic instruments including taxes would be the most efficient and effective means of delivering the targets.
Recommendation 2. The theoretical and pragmatic arguments provide a strong argument for using at least some of the proceeds of environmental taxes to provide incentives for relevant environmental improvements; and there is great presentational advantage in trying to use the remainder of the proceeds in a fiscally neutral way, ie to reduce other taxes, and improve the overall balance of the tax structure. The Treasury should always give sympathetic consideration to these possibilities when it introduces a new sustainable development tax proposal.

Sustainable development means developing opportunities and delivering a quality of life in a way that does not compromise the ability of future generations to do likewise. With many of the easier decisions already identified or being addressed, the key challenge is:

  • decision-making that can tackle difficult issues guided by expert analysis and long term strategic considerations rather than sentiment and short term pressures

  • decision-making that can influence the diffuse activities of many rather that just the point source activities of a few

  • decision-making that inspires motivation rather than reluctance

  • decision-making based on inclusion rather than exclusion

  • decision-making that accepts its own limitations and presumes flexibility, review and revision before the need arises

Jamie Lindsay

Recommendation 3. The Government should consider, before introducing any sustainable development economic instrument, its possible impact on the competitiveness of UK firms (including the UK as a whole).
Recommendation 4. The Round Table has found no evidence of significant effects of sustainable development economic instruments on macro-economic competition. But, where there is real evidence of likely damage to competitiveness, the Government should adopt measures which give firms some flexibility in how to respond, for instance by:
  • setting an implementation date well ahead, and/or phasing in the instrument
  • recycling revenues to the industry, e.g. for investment to reduce their liability to payment
  • negotiating agreements with industry
  • allowing exemption from the tax for specified groups or companies, in response to agreements to take action to improve environmental performance
  • adopting a tradable permit system to minimise overall compliance costs and protect plant where abatement cost is high.
Recommendation 5. The Government should consider, before introducing a sustainable development economic instrument, what equity problems arise (undertaking research into its net impact on identified potentially vulnerable groups in terms not only of costs but also of benefits) and what measures might be taken to overcome them. Such measures might include:
  • smart tariffing such as lifeline tariffs, prices that are lower for low-income consumers than high-income consumers
  • compensation via special allowances for the targeted source of pollution
  • other forms of compensation not targeted at the source of pollution.

Where the above measures are deemed inadequate, it may be necessary to consider the feasibility of excluding clearly identified vulnerable groups from the instrument, provided this does not wholly compromise its effectiveness.

Information campaigns are important to ensure that measures which are not regressive are not seen as being so.

Further research should be undertaken, after the introduction of a new economic instrument, to assess its actual impact on relevant groups.

Recommendation 6. Economic instruments should be assessed for effectiveness in delivering sustainable development objectives. Where the instrument by itself is likely to be less than fully effective, associated measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of delivery of the objective should be introduced.
Recommendation 7. The Government should take a pro-active approach to establishing the public perception of the policy 'baseline' against which proposals for economic instruments are to be judged.
Recommendation 8. Effective processes should be considered and adopted, based on the practical experience gained from past exercises in the consideration of environmental taxes.
Recommendation 9. The Government should establish an independent, standing advisory body on sustainable development economic instruments, reporting to HM Treasury. If however, the Government rejects that recommendation, this function should be included in the remit of the new Sustainable Development Commission and the Commission be appropriately resourced to carry it out effectively.
Recommendation 10. The Government, and the proposed advisory body, should give further consideration to whether powers to introduce economic instruments to tackle issues of sustainable development might appropriately be given to the devolved administrations or to local government.
Recommendation 11. The UK Government should initiate further discussion between groups of countries about the way in which appropriate economic instruments introduced in each country might contribute to the joint solution of common problems of sustainable development.

Indicators of Sustainable Development

Introduction

2.29 The UK Government's Strategy for Sustainable Development A better quality of life (May 1999) identifies four main objectives for sustainable development:

Sustainable development is economic, social and environmental development working to improve human dignity and the prosperity of everyone while caring for this planet. The main driver is the desire to improve the work, leisure and surroundings of our children and grandchildren.

But first we must make people realise that we have grown so powerful that we are irreparably damaging this Earth.

The key challenge is to identify and agree essential targets for fifty years hence … still well in the lifetime of our grandchildren. And each year, we should promise to achieve 2% of the way towards those targets.

Derek Norman

2.30 The Strategy stresses the importance of setting more specific goals within these general objectives and establishing indicators so that progress over time towards sustainability can be measured. In Quality of life counts (December 1999) the UK Government published a national set of indicators to focus on specific issues and identify areas for action, and within that set a core set of 'headline indicators' intended to give a broad overview of trends and progress.

2.31 The Round Table attaches great importance to the measurement of the different aspects of sustainable development so that progress can be monitored, problems highlighted and priorities set. As soon as Quality of life counts was available we launched a programme of consultation and review to assess how well it had established a framework for measuring sustainable development and how it could best be used to stimulate further progress in society. This report presents our initial conclusions.

General conclusions

2.32 The set of indicators published in Quality of life counts provides a robust and useful way of keeping track of the progress of sustainable development in the UK.

2.33 The most important single task now is to ensure that the headline indicators are given the continuing attention they need by the political world, by the media and by society at large so that they have an appropriate influence on decision-making and action.

2.34 Some of the indicators are flashing red. Action is needed now to correct unsustainable trends in climate change and traffic, in poverty and social divisions, in agricultural practices and in the production of waste. Setting targets for improvement and taking action to achieve them should be a top priority for Government, and for the whole of society. The adequacy of policies and programmes should be assessed by their ability to deliver progress on these sustainable development targets.

2.35 The indicator set and its presentation could be further improved. The Round Table makes some suggestions about this. The new Sustainable Development Commission will need to keep this work under close review.

2.36 The Round Table makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1. The Government should establish a target for the much larger reductions of greenhouse gas emissions that will be needed to achieve what will be sustainable levels in the long term, up to the middle of the century, and should shape its policies to achieve a steady progression towards that longer term goal. Until that goal is reached or is in prospect the indicator signal should show red, and all parts of society should continue to be alerted to the need for progressively more vigorous measures and changes in behaviour to achieve the necessary changes.
Recommendation 2. More specific targets for the reduction of road traffic growth should be established, along with targets for reducing CO2 emissions from the vehicle fleet as a basis for assessing progress towards more sustainable patterns of transport.
Recommendation 3. In addition to measuring progress against the poverty, health and crime indicators in Quality of life counts, further work should be put in hand to find indicators of total deprivation (perhaps on an area basis) and to use these to assess the overall effectiveness of policies on poverty, health and crime, and social exclusion. The 'z-scores' developed for urban policy in the 1970s could be of value in this context.
Recommendation 4. In addition to monitoring the levels of capital formation and social investment, HM Treasury and other departments concerned should develop a methodology for assessing whether physical and social capital stocks are being maintained, and for setting appropriate investment targets to achieve this.
Recommendation 5. MAFF and the other departments concerned should adopt a specific target to arrest the decline of farmland bird populations and should assess the adequacy and sustainability of the totality of their farm policies against their ability to deliver this target.
Recommendation 6. Further efforts should be made to improve the data on waste so that targets and timetables can be established and monitored for the reduction of waste arisings, increase of recycling and recovery of energy from waste, and reduction of household waste to landfill.

Spreading the message of the indicators

2.37 Indicators are useful only insofar as they are used by Government and others to shape policies and influence behaviour. Quality of life counts gives the UK Government an opportunity to adopt an integrated joined-up approach to move these indicators in the right direction. It could assess the effects which all its main policies and spending programmes might have on the indicators (especially on each of the headline indicators), taking this as a template for considering how they could contribute to a sustainable future.

Recommendation 7. Over the next year, the Government should consider the potential impact on the indicators and on sustainability of all key policy statements including:
  • the 2000 pre-Budget and 2001 Budget Statements
  • the Spending Review
  • the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal
  • the Climate Change Strategy
  • the Urban White Paper
  • the Rural White Paper
  • the Waste Strategy
  • Best Value in local government.
Recommendation 8. Above all, the Government should use the opportunity of the annual review of the indicators and the Sustainable Development Strategy itself to assess the adequacy of the whole range of other government policies and programmes to deliver sustainable development, and should initiate corrective action where the indicators are showing problems persisting

Improving the indicators

Recommendation 10. In respect of the headline indicators, the Government should:

(i) whilst reporting on each of them every year, pick out key ones (with other associated indicators) for special emphasis each year, covering the full range on a 3-4 year cycle;

(ii) identify those departments and Ministers with responsibility for ensuring progress;

(iii) set targets, and milestones perhaps for every 3-5 years, in order to measure progress as tangibly as possible; in some cases setting not only firm targets for progress in the right direction but also aspirational aims which would achieve real sustainable development.

In respect of indicators generally, the Government should:

(iv) maintain the spirit of openness, which gives this first report so much weight, even if subsequent data were to indicate unwelcome trends;

(v) make much greater use of forward projections and scenarios in order to indicate the possible effects of past, present and future actions and to demonstrate the consequences of current trends;

(vi) continue and develop the further analysis of indicators presented in chapter 5 of Quality of life counts, including the integration and uncoupling of trends;

(vii) develop more direct outcome indicators, alongside proxy indicators; particular areas for attention include the economy and transport;

(viii) continue to broaden the perceptual measures of quality of life which it has introduced;

(ix) continue to develop regional and sectoral sets of indicators, in co-operation with the relevant parties, preserving a degree of consistency with the national set whilst reflecting the diverse needs of each application;

(x) develop indicators which measure the resource costs of the UK's consumption, to capture its hidden environmental and social costs and to take account of its international impact.

Delivering Sustainable Development in the Regions

2.38 Some of the problems and challenges of sustainable development present themselves particularly clearly at regional level, and action at that level may be particularly important in advancing sustainability.

2.39 We are living through a renaissance of regional activity in England, and the prospects for advancing sustainability should be considerably enhanced. But amidst all the activity there is a dearth of capacity to integrate the various initiatives and to provide political leadership. Sustainable development is a very broad concept which involves bringing together many different issues and stakeholders. It is a process as much as a set of solutions, and depends on broadly based participation and consultation and debate leading to wide consensus on the right way to resolve issues and take action forward. It is thus an essentially political idea. But there is a democratic deficit at regional level, and by the same token there is a sustainability deficit. No one body is in a position to pull matters together and to take the leadership and responsibility for making it the key unifying concept at regional level.

2.40 The Government has said that it will allow people, region by region, to decide whether they wanted directly elected regional government. We believe that some such arrangement is a prerequisite for real progress towards sustainable development. To be more sure of progress, however, it would also be necessary to give any such body a specific and positive role in respect of sustainable development, as in the case of the National Assembly for Wales and the Greater London Authority.

2.41 Any prospect of bodies with regional political accountability lies several years in the future. In the meantime, a real step forward has been taken in number of regions by the establishment of regional round tables for sustainable development, as well as by the active involvement in sustainable development of the regional chambers. We believe that there is considerable potential in these emerging bodies (which might more appropriately be termed regional commissions for sustainable development), and that efforts should now be made to establish them more securely with a clear mandate, broad participation and secure funding. This must, however, be done in a way which recognises and protects the scope for regional initiative and ownership, including with respect to the appointment of members. This could be an important topic for the UK Sustainable Development Commission to address.

Sustainable development is about:

  • A dynamic equilibrium that flourishes by bringing to life a diversity of different cultures
  • Working within the cyclical patterns and energy systems of nature without destroying them
  • Reversing the rapid decline in biodiversity and shifting from the belief that we live on a flat earth where waste conveniently falls off the edge
  • Recognising that we are custodians of the planet with a responsibility for its safekeeping.

Yasmin Shariff

2.42 The Round Table welcomes the commitment of the Regional Development Agencies to the principle of sustainable development as set out in their strategies. The key test of the Agencies is in the implementation of the action plans that are now beginning to flow from the strategies; it is here that their commitment to sustainable development will work out in practice. RDAs will need to continue to work closely with partners at both a regional and sub-regional level to ensure that the improvement of the regions' economic performance, which the economic strategies seek, is not achieved at the expense of the social and/or environmental fabric of the region. To lessen the temptation to accept proposals for unsustainable development, it is essential that development which is sustainable should be identified and encouraged.

2.43 The Round Table has played a significant role in advising the Government on the evolution of national indicators of sustainable development and the way in which they can be used to monitor and stimulate progress and has supported development of regional indicators consistent with the national set. Its successor body, the Sustainable Development Commission, could play a similar role in assisting the development and use of regional sustainability indicators, perhaps linked with a review of Regional Sustainable Development Frameworks.

2.44 The Appendix to this report also includes some comment on arrangements for local government, which the Round Table has been involved with over recent months, including the contribution of Local Agenda 21 and the new statutory provisions for action to promote well-being and for community planning. Local authorities in each region will need to work closely with the RDA to promote the sustainable development of the region as a whole.

2.45 The Round Table makes the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1. The current arrangement of regional institutions in England, differing between regions, does not have a sharp enough focus or strong enough leadership to deliver sustainable development. The Government should consider how the establishment of arrangements such as elected regional assemblies could give political leadership and a new impetus towards sustainable development in the regions. Any such bodies should have a specific and positive duty in respect of sustainable development.
Recommendation 2. The Government should initiate discussions with relevant bodies and sectors of society in the English regions with a view to aiding the formation or consolidation of a round table or commission for sustainable development in each region, and ensuring that they have appropriate constitutions, mandates and resources to play an active part in building partnerships for sustainability in each region. It should make available some funding for such bodies, perhaps on the basis of matching funds raised in other ways.
Recommendation 3. The Sustainable Development Commission should consider what would be desirable qualities and roles for a regional round table or commission. These might include:

a) a membership drawn from a wide range of public bodies, business and industry, the academic and voluntary sectors, NGOs and other regional interests - but who recognise the need for integrated solutions

b) funds drawn from a wide range of sources

c) championing the cause of sustainable development in the region

d) providing advice to the RDA and other regional agencies and decision takers

e) monitoring the development of the region from a sustainability perspective

f) assisting in the delivery of sustainable development, both by undertaking specific campaigns and programmes, and through members' organisations

g) providing a focus for consideration, adoption and promotion of the Regional Sustainable Development Framework.

But it is essential to allow for a range of bodies to emerge in response to regional initiative. The Commission will need to address the balance to be struck between central recognition and local initiative, especially as regards eligibility for central funding.

Recommendation 4. The Sustainable Development Commission should consider its own relationship with regional bodies, including the RDAs and regional round tables or commissions for sustainable development, so as to strengthen their contribution to regional sustainability. This might include assisting the development of regional indicators of sustainable development and advice on the appraisal of projects and programmes (see recommendation 5).

The Earth does not belong solely to its current occupants - we're sharing its beauty and resources with future generations, and we all share responsibility to ensure that we don't allow the environment and social fabric to degrade irreversibly. People must be educated so that they treat natural resources as precious and not unlimited. Technology, especially in relation to energy production, distribution and consumption, must be harnessed to minimise, and even reverse, our impact on the planet. The social welfare of the World's population must be improved without the population's impact on the environment putting life itself at risk.

John Weight

Recommendation 5. The Regional Development Agencies and other bodies should use a range of sustainable development indicators to measure and monitor the impact of their policies in the region. Targets and objectives should recognise the contribution regional policies make to the achievement of national policies. Investment programmes and projects, including a range of options, should be subject to sustainable development appraisal which include the 'hidden costs' to the environmental and social fabric.
Recommendation 6. Many local and regional bodies are able and willing to contribute to policy formation and the monitoring of progress from a sustainable development perspective. The UK Round Table recommends that:
  • The Regional Development Agencies should work closely with partners from the statutory and voluntary sector to understand and respond to the sustainable development needs of their region. They should do so in a way which is sensitive to the different capacities and strengths of different kinds of organisation.
  • The regional round tables or commissions should consider holding an annual sustainability conference in each region, at which key bodies account for their work over the past year and show how their strategies will develop in the future.
Recommendation 7. Recommendations 5 & 6, and several passages in the Appendix, are addressed to the RDAs. Though having freedom to devise their own strategies and action plans, the Agencies are also given guidance by central Government. The Government should consider what amendments or additions to its guidance to the RDAs may be required to encourage them to comply with the recommendations and other comments in this report.

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Published 14 September 2000
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