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Work areas
Regional Sustainability
The Regional Assemblies and the Regional Development Agencies in England are playing an increasingly important role in co-ordinating and promoting sustainable development in the regions. All regions have produced Regional Sustainable Development Frameworks (RSDFs). Many are developing Integrated Regional Frameworks or Strategies which provide a structure for ensuring that regional policy meets common sustainable development objectives. CAG has the independence and breadth of experience to support the development of regional organisations as effective champions for sustainable development.
We offer:
- Support in strategy development
- Design and management of consultation and involvement processes
- Advice and support on specific tools such as sustainability appraisal, sustainable development indicators and sustainable development governance
- Advice and support on specific policy areas including climate change and sustainable energy, transport and land use planning
Some examples of our work include:
South East Regional Sustainability Framework
We contributed to the development of the RSF on behalf of the South East
England Regional Assembly. We produced a Compendium of Regional Strategic
Context. It reviewed key regional strategies and made recommendations
for future integration of regional priorities and strategies. The Compendium
can be seen on the SEERA website. We also undertook a high level sustainability
appraisal of the RSF. The report
is also available on the SEERA website.
Integrating sustainability into the Manchester City Region Spatial Framework
We were commissioned by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities to help them integrate sustainability considerations into the Manchester City Region Spatial Framework as it is being developed. CAG contributed to workshops on the framework, advised on topic areas as they were developed, and undertook carbon modelling of the proposals.
City Region Sustainability
We produced a report for the Northern Way Sustainable Communities team on how to promote sustainability among the 8 northern city regions. For our study we reviewed the City Region Development Plans and interviewed City Region and regional staff. We also assessed the suitability of sustainability indicators, ecological footprinting, sustainability appraisal and other sustainability tools for promoting sustainability among the city regions.
Yorkshire & Humber strategy review
As part of the wider preparation of a new Integrated Regional Framework, we undertook an evaluation of how far regional strategies in Yorkshire & Humber are mutually supportive/consistent and identify shared issues and findings raised by the sustainability appraisals/strategic environmental assessments of those strategies. In particular, we have been seeking to identify the significant areas of conflict (the ‘crunch’ issues) as well as the opportunities for enhancing synergies and mutuality, with a view to ensuring that the regional strategies are as mutually supportive as possible in the future.
Regional scrutiny
We helped 7 regional assemblies to pilot sustainable development scrutiny of Regional Development Agencies and other regional partners. This included developing methodologies and running training for officers and scrutiny panel members. We subsequently researched and presented a report for the North West Regional Assembly’s scrutiny of how well the draft Regional Economic Strategy addressed sustainable development.
Effectiveness of Regional Sustainable Development Frameworks
We conducted a review of the experience and effectiveness of Regional Sustainable Development Frameworks (RSDFs) for the English Regions Network. We investigated the extent to which the RSDFs had influenced regional sustainability. Our final report recommended how the Assemblies could make the RSDFs more effective.
Sustainable development tools
We prepared a report on the approach and effectiveness of 21 sustainable development tools for the English Regions Network (with the University of Hull). For this project we investigated sustainable development tools that have been or could be used by English regional assemblies, including looking in-depth at five selected tools - action plans, appraisal, indicators, scrutiny and voluntary agreements.
Indicators for the East of England
We reviewed and updated the indicators for the East of England Regional Sustainable Development Framework. Based on this we produced a Trends Update which summarised regional trends and data for the East of England, and advised on integrating the use of indicators with the Framework
For more information contact:
Tim Maiden
0191 224 1390
tm@cagconsult.co.uk
Gerard Couper
01364 653003
gc@cagconsult.co.uk
Helen Chalmers
01691 828026
hc@cagconsult.co.uk
