Durham County Council

Maggie and Claire are using the tool to evaluate two projects. The Action Packed Futures Festival day is a fun-day focusing on sustainability and green issues that has been attracting residents in the county for a number of years. They wanted to find out whether attending the day had any impact on the behaviour and attitudes of those attending. Claire has adapted the tool to help her evaluate a one-day event and will be asking people to identify their attitudes before and after their attendance at the event.

The other area of Durham's work is to work with communities to pilot the North East Region Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiative is aiming to increase sustainable activities within community across the North East, and will create a comprehensive 'How to do it' tool kit illustrating to communities just how easy it is to take small steps to creating sustainable communities now and for the future.

The project is only in its infancy and is already supported by many local authorities across the region, Sustaine, VONNE and by the Government Office North East and The Regional Assembly North East.

The project will involve communities at the heart of its development, and the tool kit will be designed by communities for communities to use. This will help inform the project, developing a comprehensive, relevant and community friendly tool which will address all aspects of sustainable communities. The work with WWF and CAG Consultants will help to evaluate the impact of the toolkit on behaviour change in the area.

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Bristol City Council Bristol City Council has embarked on an ambitious regeneration project for the Brislington area in Bristol. They were developing a community engagement programme to help to develop a ‘sustainable neighbourhood plan’ for the regeneration of the area. >>

Surrey County Council Surrey County Council has an extensive waste management programme that includes supporting local community initiatives. Furnistore is a community-based furniture recycling project that collects, restores and re-distributes unwanted furniture. >>

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council The Kirklees team are focusing on the evaluation of a walking project to encourage pedestrian journeys within Littletown and Mill Bridge in Kirklees. The aim is to encourage and increase the volume of pedestrian journeys to local services and facilities. >>

Lewes District Council Lewes District Council has a large programme of work focusing on climate change and communicating the message to residents. Lewes is on the River Ouse and has experienced severe flooding in the past – the impact of climate change is very real. >>

I'm In: what the pilot projects said about the CESD Tool
The Community Engagement and Sustainable Development (CESD) tool has been piloted by five local authorities and a community-based organisation. Here we report briefly from a selection of these pilots projects, including Bristol City Council, Durham County Council and Lewes District Council, about how they have found working with the tool so far. >>

Download the Tool information sample
The Tool is designed for practitioners who aim to influence behaviour in relation to sustainable development. Whilst the tool is reserved for use by project participants, a sample of the various forms is available to introduce you to the process. This will help prospective participants to identify if they wish to engage in the project. >>

Why choose community engagement?
This is the question that has
driven this project designed
to help local project workers
measure the effect of their
work on sustainable living. Download our introductory pamphlet. >>