ANNEX D
Survey of Round Table Reports and ResponsesThe survey is introduced in section 3 of the main report, together with the conclusions drawn.
In the following text, the reports are grouped into themes and, within each theme, appear in order of publication. The key messages of each report are summarised, followed by a summary of the Government response, and in some cases other comment, in italics.
Energy and Regulation
The Domestic Energy Market: 1998 and Beyond: January 1996. The report sets out sustainable development objectives for the industry. These include recognition of the need for a competitive market for energy and energy products, the needs of consumers being met efficiently and the needs and interests of the most vulnerable sections of the community being protected. It recommends that clear objectives for the social, environmental and economic consequences of liberalisation of the domestic energy market should be established and closely monitored by the Government and the regulators, and corrective action taken when limits are exceeded.
A subsequent report, of which only a summary and recommendations was published (in the Fourth Annual Report, March 1999), sets out indicators by which to measure the success of liberalisation of the domestic energy market in advancing sustainable development policies.
The October 1998 White Paper Conclusions of the Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation confirmed the Government's objective of having secure, diverse and sustainable energy supplies at competitive prices. Competitive markets and companies are the key to achieving this, but Government will: set frameworks, provide for regulation in the consumer interest and monitor the wider public interest. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) closely monitors the progress of competition, and acts to ensure that consumers' needs and problems are addressed. It is responsible for delivering programmes on energy efficiency and renewables. OFGEM has published a Social Action Plan to assist disadvantaged customers and has recently been in contact with the Round Table about its draft Environmental Action Programme.
Energy and Planning: November 1996. This paper recommends changes in approvals under sections 36 & 37 of the Electricity Act 1989, to provide for the environmental consequences of connection to the national grid to be considered alongside a proposed power station development. Environmental assessment (EA) regulations should be widened to take in all major developments. Environmental aspects of renewable energy projects should be considered at an early stage, either during the NFFO scrutiny or at planning application stage. Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Note 22 should be updated to give clearer guidance.
The recommendation about the Electricity Act was not implemented but it is DTI's intention that, for such linked developments, decisions whether to grant consent will be taken concurrently. An EU Directive widened the classes of projects that must undergo EA, and the Government decided to implement it through revising and consolidating the relevant regulations and guidance. The Government has no objection to NFFO developers' seeking planning permission for projects early in the NFFO process; it considers the planning process to be the most appropriate place for detailed environmental considerations to take place; the NFFO procedure is to be replaced by a Renewables Obligation on all suppliers. PPG 22 was not updated; the Government's policy for the assessment of, and targets for, renewable energy within each region is contained in the Guidance for preparing a Regional Sustainable Development Strategy.
Economic Regulation: January 1998. This report argues that the economic regulators (of gas, electricity, water and rail) are well placed to implement many of the objectives set by Government for sustainable development. The Government should set a strategic framework for regulation, within which sustainable development can be pursued and which includes clear objectives for the economic, environmental and social spheres. It should issue statutory guidance to the regulators on the principles, objectives and targets for sustainable development relevant to their work. The economic regulators should have a duty to promote sustainable development, to consult relevant agencies and to advise the Government on the possible social and environmental consequences of decisions to achieve economic objectives. The Government should establish clear objectives for the liberalised markets and monitor their achievement. (See also The Domestic Energy Market: 1998 and Beyond.)
In its response, the Government agrees that is should provide a framework for regulation which promotes its objectives for the environment and sustainable development. It confirms its intention to issue statutory guidance on social and environmental objectives, and that the regulators should be placed under a duty to have regard to such guidance. But the Government resists the idea that the regulators should have a duty to promote (or even to take account of) sustainable development, or that it should issue guidance to them on sustainable development. The Round Table has had further contact with Ministers about these issues, in preparation for the Utilities Bill, which implements the Government's proposals, but with no resolution of the disagreement.
Environmental Management
Environmental Management and Audit: January 1996. The report recommends that government, central and local, should take account of environmental considerations when policy and programmes are determined. Procurement should be made more sustainable through supply chains and firms should adopt environmental management systems that involve their employees. The Government, education establishments and employers should encourage environmental education as a means of establishing environmental management.
DETR is in consultation with a number of statutory and non-statutory agencies to ensure that environmental management is embedded in operational systems and that there is regulatory coherence across the board. Criteria for programmes and policies should be based on sustainable development principles. Voluntary instruments are in place to help deliver public sector targets, and environmental management and audit is being factored into new legislation. Public procurement policies must take account of value for money (vfm)criteria, but life cycle analysis can show long-term vfm for alternative purchasing criteria. (See also the SME report and response.) Education and training in the public and private sector that includes understanding of the principles of sustainable development is being developed and promoted.
Integrating Biodiversity into Environmental Management Systems: May 1998. This report develops the idea that Environmental Management Systems can conserve and enhance biodiversity and encourages business organisations to promote the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). Those involved with drawing up local BAPs should involve as wider a stakeholder group as possible in their development and implementation, and these groups should include businesses. The regulatory bodies should make it clear to businesses that compliance with consents extends beyond meeting numerical limits and that there is a wider duty to protect the environment. The Government should clarify the relationship of the UK BAP and the local BAPs to statutory and non-statutory instruments and initiatives; Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Note 9: Nature Conservation should be updated to reflect this.
The Government agrees that businesses operating an environmental management system such as EMAS or ISO 14001 should take account of biodiversity impacts. In the strategy White Paper A better quality of life the Government announced that it would "encourage business to take account of biodiversity in environmental management, to prepare corporate biodiversity action plans and to act as 'biodiversity champions' supporting work on habitats and species." A draft PPG 9 will be published later this year; it is expected to strengthen biodiversity as a material consideration in planning decisions and strengthen the protection for SSSIs. Permission under IPPC regulations is site specific and must take into account the biodiversity of each site. The Government has re-launched Making a Corporate Commitment. 'MACC2' calls on senior executives to make public declarations to improve their performance in specific and quantified ways and to set targets for action on biodiversity. Following high demand for the booklet Business and Biodiversity, that was published at the same time as the Round Table's report, Earthwatch has published a booklet of business case studies with support from DETR.
Transport
Defining a Sustainable Transport Sector: June 1996. This report considers the adverse impacts of unrestricted growth in road transport on sustainable development. It recommends an integrated transport strategy, based on the principles of sustainable development, which includes economic instruments to take account of the environmental and social costs of traffic and infrastructure growth. A sustainable transport policy would aim to reduce travel needs whilst improving access, encourage alternative modes of travel to car and lorry and improved vehicle performance leading to less pollution. It recommends that transport infrastructure and travel does not exceed the capacity of the environment to withstand their impact, and the preservation of natural and physical capital by good management of non-renewable resources.
The Government's policy on transport, set out in the 1998 White Paper A new deal for transport - better for everyone and in the current Transport Bill, is based on an integrated approach. It has established a Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) to give advice on this.
The Government's January 2000 report Tackling Congestion and Pollution (the first under the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Act 1998) described how the policies set out in the White Paper would help reduce the adverse environmental, economic and social impacts of road traffic in England. In preparing this, it took into account advice from CfIT that, by 2010, it should be possible to bring the total amount of vehicle time lost to congestion nationally back to 1996 levels and to have approached zero national traffic growth through implementation of the White Paper policies. The Government agreed with CfIT that these aspirations needed to be validated through dialogue and consensus building with others involved in implementing the policies and that a top-down national traffic reduction target was not the most effective way to guide implementation of policies: the focus should be at the local level. The National Assembly for Wales came to similar conclusions in formulating its first report under the 1998 Act, published in February 2000.
Work on environmental capital is currently being undertaken by the statutory environmental agencies. The Government has recognised the role that economic instruments can play in delivering a more sustainable outcome across a range of different policy areas. They have been widely used in the transport sector. The Transport Bill gives powers to local authorities to introduce road user charging and workplace parking levies, provided that certain conditions are met. The Government has also introduced incentives for cleaner fuels and cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Freight Transport: January 1996. This report highlights the rise in road freighted goods. It recommends action on the tighter enforcement of existing regulations, using economic instruments to encourage the use of cleaner fuels by freight operators and encouraging good practice through training, load-sharing and operating outside peak hours.
Making Connections: January 1997. This report looks at the barriers to inter-modal transport and highlights the lack of passenger information and the perceptions of hazards for public transport users. For freight operations, barriers are perceived to be greater costs and delays per journey, and limitations on cargo. Recommendations include planning for interchange sites in Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) Note 13, and advice to BR and other landowners that sites may have potential for development as inter-change terminals and should not be sold prior to this possibility being investigated.
Getting Around Town: February 1997. A case study concentrated on the aspirations of local authorities and obstacles they face in meeting local transport needs. The report recommends that each local authority set targets for reduction of traffic levels and meet them through drawing up local traffic reduction plans. Local people and organisations should be consulted whilst the plans are drawn up and Government should consider the plans and give priority to traffic reduction measures when allocating resources. It is important to use planning policy guidance to raise issues of sustainable development, including the use of greenfield sites which are generators of increased traffic. Inward investment creates competition between urban areas.
The Transport White Paper agrees that enforcement of regulation on road freight is necessary to combat noise, pollution and traffic congestion; but the amount at which fines are set rests with the discretion of individual magistrates. Policy divisions work with the Vehicle Inspectorate to ensure that health and safety and environmental risks are minimised: they have achieved a more stringent lorry drivers' test and ensured that training instructors in future will have to have had three years experience of a vehicle before being allowed to train others.
The Power Shift initiative (a grant regime operated through the Energy Saving Trust) enables companies to purchase clean-technology vehicles at reduced cost. Road haulage companies have set up web-sites to help them develop a load-sharing system and to prevent empty running. The draft of a revised PPG 13, due for publication towards the end of 2000, recognises that land use has an impact on sustainable distribution. It encourages local authorities to form partnerships to minimise the noise, pollution, and congestion effects of freight distribution and recommends that sites be identified that contribute to multi-modal terminals for freight.
The transport White Paper endorses the availability of through-ticketing, greater information availability and local integrated transport plans. The Transport Bill lays out the arrangements for partnerships for co-operation between local authorities, bus companies and other transport providers. It places a duty on local authorities to draw up a local transport plan for the promotion and encouragement of safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services to and from their area. The Bus Strategy in the Bill should, in part, provide the sorts of facilities for providing information for passengers highlighted by the Round Table. The ability of local authorities to levy congestion charges on motorists should contribute to traffic reduction, as should the introduction of workplace parking levies.
Developing an Integrated Transport Policy: the Round Table Response: November 1997. The response draws on the work of the four transport reports and adds a comment on social equity. Access for rural communities depends a great deal on car use; the Round Table recommends that the Government raise the profile of inter-modal transfer. The needs of a range of disadvantaged people are best met without reliance on car use.
The 1998 White Paper and the Transport Bill reflect the Government's policies on transport. PPG 13 will recommend that rural development should centre on or near local service centres to ensure that public transport is available and to provide potential easy inter-change between modes of transport. The Government's Rural Bus Partnership and Rural Transport Partnership schemes will provide a total of £50m annually to improve rural access. Mobility, access and social exclusion are very much part of the vocabulary of all planning and transport documents.
Housing, Planning, Water and Agriculture Housing and Urban Capacity: February 1997. The report sets out to justify the hypothesis that, of the 4.4 million projected new households that would be required over the next 25 years, 75% could be provided for on brownfield sites. It recognises the significant variations within the projections reflecting migration patterns and demographic change. Urban revitalisation will be a key element in the planning process. Local authorities should conduct urban capacity assessments as part of the development of local structure plans. The report suggests: more innovative responses to perceived need; the Government to make greenfield development a less attractive option for house-builders and developers; a holistic approach that includes the private sector; setting up a technical panel to bring forward work on urban capacity studies and much greater consultation with the general public.
The revised Planning Policy Guidance Note 3, published in March 2000, reflects a structure for urban management and community building delivered through the planning system. It sets out a target of 60% of additional housing to be provided on brownfield sites by 2008. It recommends that regional planning bodies should be responsible for evaluating the capacity of their areas and that constituent local authorities should draw up local capacity studies. This will provide the information for the reuse of land. Developers should think imaginatively about designs and improving the quality and attractiveness of urban areas.
The Urban White Paper, which is due out in the summer, will respond in part to the report of the Urban Task Force. That report recommends the creation of sustainable towns and cities through promotion of urban design and management, and the integration of transport, health, education and social services with regeneration measures. It chimes in with the Round Table report by calling on the Government to make development on brownfield sites more attractive and it calls for an annual State of Towns and Cities report to assess progress against key indicators.
Planning for Sustainable Development in the 21st Century: February 2000. The Round Table contributed to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's study on environmental planning, which is now under way. It comments on the role of land use planning in securing sustainable development and the ways in which it can be developed. It suggests a formal link between community planning, to become a local authority duty under the legislation currently before Parliament, and the land use planning system.
No response to this report is required.
Freshwater: February 1997. This comprehensive report calls for a national strategy for water use, for a Planning Policy Guidance note on water and for regulators to apply the principles of sustainable development to their work. Maximising the total welfare of the resource will help prevent long-term deterioration in the water environment. This means creating a balance between the use of water in situ and the needs of society for consumption and production. Domestic requirements are based on supply and quality and these needs should be met at a price affordable for the poor. (See also the report Economic Regulation.)
The Environment Agency is working up a Water Resource Strategy for England and Wales, based on the eight regional resource strategies. The Agency also requires a 25 year water resources strategy from each of the water companies. There is still no PPG specifically for water, but references to water resources in both PPG 12 and the draft PPG 11 have been considerably strengthened. In May 2000, Water UK published a set of indicators of the environmental sustainability of the industry.
With regard to sustainable development, the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have a primary objective to pursue this through regulation. There is no mention of sustainable development explicitly in the duties of either OFWAT or the Drinking Water Inspectorate, but both deal with a number of sustainability aspects.
The Government is concerned that poorer members of the community are able to afford the supply of water they need. The Price Determination for the next five years includes delivering price cuts as well as substantial service and environmental improvements. Water companies will be required to conserve water in carrying out their functions. Research is continuing to explore the use of economic instruments for improving the efficient use of water to run alongside the regulatory system.
Aspects of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Policy: July 1998. The report recommends a holistic approach to land-use and strategic objectives for rural land. This requires a comprehensive system that promotes sustainable development through greater co-ordination between the regional planning guidance and structural, local and unitary planning. It would involve brokering agreements between people with competing interests and should include a duty of care for landowners. The report highlights the often hidden face of rural deprivation and suggests that the Social Exclusion Unit should recognise this and take it into account in their reports.
The report recognises that the CAP is a barrier to integration of a sustainable approach to agriculture and rural policy-making. It recommends that MAFF should join the Government Offices for the Regions (GORs) and move from a position of managing CAP to one of promoting sustainable development. It draws attention to the loss of habitat and biodiversity through intensive farming practice and suggests that institutional systems, including subsidies that lead to unsustainable practices, should be overhauled to produce publicly-agreed, multiple goals.
A response to this report has been received, but too recently to reflect here. The Policy and Innovation Unit report, Reaching Out, argues for MAFF to be incorporated within the Government Offices, and for the GORs to have a greater role in co-ordinating regional policies and programmes. The Social Exclusion Unit's National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal does not make explicit the nature of deprived rural neighbourhoods, but recognises that many problems highlighted in the Strategy have a rural aspect.
Indicators and Reporting
Getting the Best Out of Indicators: December 1997. The major principles of the report include the notion of a sustainable development indicator as a tool; the value and appropriateness of the indicator would depend on consideration of its intended use. Targets which are transparent and part of a logical process should be attached to indicators; those responsible for achieving the targets should be identified as far as is possible. The Government should develop its 1996 indicators fully to incorporate social and economic indicators and to reflect international aspects of domestic practice. The indicators should have alert zones and red-zones attached and the Government should report regularly against their progress and should highlight when an indicator is entering an alert-zone or a red-zone. The Round Table supports the idea of a restricted set of key indicators to cover areas of crucial importance.
The idea of headline indicators was taken forward in the UK strategy A better quality of life and there are now fifteen that, it is proposed, will be reported regularly. Both the strategy and the DETR's report on indicators of sustainable development, Quality of life counts, give examples of the relevance of the indicator and its intended use and incorporate data on social and economic factors. The strategy makes direct links between action taken at home and improvement in living conditions for the inhabitants of the world's poorest countries.
Both the strategy and Quality of life counts contain targets attached to the indicators where possible, and also show trends emerging where these are known. The Government will report each year on progress against each of the headline indicators it has chosen and account for the Government action it has taken. Quality of life counts does not include explicit accountability for each of the indicators. There are signals based on traffic lights to show whether the trend of an indicator is towards or away from meeting the objective.
Monitoring and Reporting on Sustainable Development: November 1998. The report, based on a seminar held in September 1998, was published as a response to a request by DETR to offer advice on what revised system of monitoring and reporting on sustainable development should be put in place. It recommends that reporting should promote learning amongst leaders and at all levels of society, and should encourage action and changed behaviour. Reporting should hold government to account, foster greater communication and encourage input from other interested parties. An independent body, with access to government, should be set up to measure and monitor the progress of sustainable development.
The Government has published the Strategy White Paper and Quality of life counts with 150 sustainable development indicators and some targets on which it will report. As announced in the White Paper, it has consulted on the best form of reporting on sustainable development; the first report is due later this year. The Government is also setting up the Sustainable Development Commission which will review systematically how far sustainable development is being achieved in the UK and is expected to take a particular interest in monitoring and reporting.
Indicators of Sustainable Development: May 2000. The report commends the Government report Quality of life counts. It emphasises the importance of keeping the headline indicators in the consciousness of the media and the public, to ensure they influence decision-making. On the basis of the data in the Government's report, it calls for urgent action to correct unsustainable trends in climate change and traffic, in poverty and social divisions, in agricultural practices and in the production of waste. Policy and programmes should be assessed on their ability to deliver progress on sustainable development targets, and departments and ministers responsible for delivering the different target outcomes should be identified in future annual reports.
The Government does not propose to make a formal response to this report. But Round Table members are to meet Michael Meacher to discuss the points raised. As noted above, the Sustainable Development Commission will advise in this area.
Devolved, Regional and Local Issues
Sustainable Development - Devolved and Regional Dimensions: February 1999. This report notes the diversity of new administrations throughout the UK and that they need to find their own solutions to emerging problems of sustainable development. It recommends that the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly should impose a similar duty on their executives to develop a sustainable development strategy to that of the Welsh Assembly and should contribute to the UK strategy. Consultation, indicators, targets, review and accountability should be part of the sustainable development process. Major projects should be subject to a comprehensive option appraisal; stakeholders with an interest in sustainable development should be consulted and the administrations should be responsive to their input. The Government should give early legislative time for its proposal to give local authorities a duty to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of their areas.
The UK Government did not make a formal response to this report. But it has helped the Round Table to develop contacts with Regional Development Agencies to encourage them to take account of sustainable development in every aspect of their work. The Round Table has also influenced the Local Government Bill, which gives local authorities the power to promote the well-being of their areas and the duty to draw up a community strategy, and has offered advice on guidance to that aspect of the Bill.
The Scottish Executive has taken a strong interest in sustainable development but has decided not yet to prepare an over-arching sustainable development strategy. The Northern Ireland Executive will decide in due course. The Greater London Assembly has legislation similar to the Welsh Assembly relating to a duty to prepare a sustainable development strategy.
Delivering Sustainable Development in the Regions: July 2000. The report advocates greater democratic accountability in the English regions as a prerequisite for sustainable development. It recommends that regional round tables (or commissions) of sustainable development should be established on a more secure footing. It encourages the Regional Development Agencies to implement sustainable development fully in their action plans, programmes and projects. And it comments briefly on the role of local authorities in promoting sustainable development.
The Government is not expected to make any response to this report. But the Sustainable Development Commission may wish to develop continuing relations with the RDAs, the regional round tables and other regional players.
Business and the Economy
A Stakeholder Approach to Sustainable Business: October 1998. The report suggests that enterprises, including business, local authorities and other agencies, can gain considerable benefits by using stakeholder dialogue to inform decision-making. Stakeholders should be drawn from as wide a group as possible, the approach taken should be flexible, and it should assist with reviewing past activity and looking at ways to move to a more sustainable enterprise. Enterprises should report on their environmental performance following a review by their stakeholder group. The Government should consider what it can best do to promote stakeholder dialogue.
The Government endorses all the recommendations and commends them to business. The Government engages in stakeholder consultation and dialogue in a variety of ways. It also encourages firms to do so. Companies at the top of the FTSE 100 index are developing increasingly sophisticated approaches to stakeholder dialogue, but the vast majority of the next 250 companies have little active two-way communication with stakeholders.
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: May 1999. The report identifies public education as the best way of encouraging small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to pursue sustainable development. Organisations involved in tendering advice to SMEs should supply useful advice in sustainable development. Funds from the climate change levy could provide a tax incentive to SMEs to promote energy efficiency. Central and local government should develop sustainable procurement policies as a means to encourage small firms in their supply chains to consider not only environmental criteria but also economic and sustainable employment practice.
The Government agrees that the required culture shift will come about through the values of the managers and employees of the SMEs. It endorses life-long learning. It has sponsored a scheme designed to assist SMEs towards ISO 14001 in 5 stages. It proposes to use part of the revenue from the climate change levy to support energy efficiency measures, principally introducing a system of 100% first year capital allowances for firms making energy-saving investments.
The EU is working on a procurement directive to set out how sustainable development issues can be taken into account within the existing framework. The Government intends to disseminate the directive widely to purchasers. Partnerships between purchasers and suppliers can secure improvements to the sustainability of goods and services. The work of the Green Ministers and the rolling out of Best Value will address environmental considerations in all aspects of service delivery.
The Round Table has also met representatives of the Institute of Business Advisers and the British Bankers Association to discuss the part their members can play in implementing these recommendations.
See also the section on Environmental Management.
Finance. The Round Table wished to conduct a study of the scope for finance and investment practices to promote sustainable development. Unfortunately, it was unable to do so. The Round Table has, however, co-sponsored a seminar on these issues, held in May 2000, focusing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index.
Not too difficult! - Economic instruments to promote sustainable development within a modernised economy: April 2000. The report recommends that the sustainable development strategy be more closely integrated with the Budget and Government spending processes. Targets and timetables should be in place to measure the progress of sustainable development and to establish when unsustainable activity is taking place. Economic instruments are often opposed on the grounds of competitiveness and/or equity; but those barriers can be addressed effectively by careful design of the instrument. Action may also be taken to mitigate any harmful effects. The report stresses the need for proper assessments to be made of economic instruments to determine their effectiveness. It recommends that an independent body be created to advise the Government on the future use of economic instruments and their impacts or, if not, that this task should be added to the remit of the Sustainable Development Commission.
The Government is expected to respond to the report in due course.
Strategy and the Sustainable Development Commission
Response to Government Consultation Paper - Opportunities for Change: June 1998. This response drew on previous reports of the Round Table. In addition, it urged political leadership: "Movement towards sustainable development may sometimes involve loss as well as gain, and public opinion will often be divided. Clearly, a democratic government should not seek to go further or faster than can be supported by public consensus, but Ministers can point in the direction they believe to be right and seek to build the consensus which will allow action to be taken. The Round Table can help to identify and extend the areas of consensus."
The Government has made no formal response to this report, but its thinking was expressed in the strategy White Paper A better quality of life.
Response to Consultation on the Sustainable Development Commission: October 1999. The Round Table, together with DETR, convened a conference of stakeholders in September 1999 to respond to the DETR paper which put forward proposals for the new Commission. The conference highlighted the need for the Commission to maximise its influence through its membership and by reporting to the PM through the Cabinet Office and to other devolved administrations at the highest level. It would require a level of resources sufficient to enable it to do the task for which it was being constituted.
The Round Table's paper endorsed the need for the Commission to have a UK-wide role and membership, and that its reporting to the UK Government should be through the Cabinet Office. The Commission should meet the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister once a year and other Ministers and key officials more frequently. It should promote sustainable development to government and other key sectors. Monitoring and reporting, as well as highlighting gaps and omissions in progress, would be vital roles.
The Government has accepted that the Commission will report to the Prime Minister through the Cabinet Office and that it will be a jointly-established body with a UK-wide remit. The proposed remit of the Commission states that it will review how far sustainable development is being achieved in the UK, identify unsustainable trends and recommend action to reverse trends, deepen understanding of the concept and encourage good practice.
Published 14 September 2000
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