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Sustainability is all about improving quality of
life for everyone in North Somerset now and for generations to
come.
It involves recognising the links between social,
environmental and economic issues and consider what long-terms
impacts our decisions and actions may have beyond our immediate
geographical boundaries and interests.
It is a relatively simple concept but can be very difficult to put
into practice and requires us to think about everything we do on a
much broader scale, to balance conflicting demands and sometimes to
make tough decisions.
The direction of sustainability in the UK is influenced by the UK
Strategy for Sustainable Development called
Securing the Future.
It identifies the five following guiding principles which form the
basis for sustainability policy in the UK:
- Living within environmental limits
- Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society
- Achieving a sustainable economy
- Promoting good governance
- Using sound science responsibly
It has introduced the sustainable communities agenda which is the
drive to improve neighbourhood participation, address inequalities
and support delivery at the local level.
The
sustainable communities model embodies the following principles
of sustainable development:
- Meeting the needs of existing and future generations
- Recognising the cross cutting nature of issues affecting
communities
- Working in a coordinated way with a wide range of interests and
organisations
- Respecting the needs of other communities in the wider region
or internationally also to make their communities sustainable.
- Recognising that sustainable communities are diverse and
reflect their local circumstances. There is no standard template to
fit them all.
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