New South West Economic Strategy Has Good Intentions, But Could Go Further
23/05/2006 08:42Sustainability South West (SSW), the region’s independent champion of sustainable development, welcomes the statement of intent in the new Regional Economic Strategy (RES) to ‘demonstrate that economic growth can be secured within environmental limits’. The strategy, to be launched in Plymouth today, contains a number of sustainability strengths providing exciting potential to move towards a more sustainable South West. However, SSW has also identified several sustainability weaknesses, including support for airport expansion, which could hamper this potential and increase the region’s contribution to climate change.
Leslie Watson, Director of Sustainability South West commented: “The RES offers truly exciting potential to deliver sustainable development and its new statement of intent is very much in line with the latest national policy. SSW welcomes the inclusion of positive activities including some support for the development of renewable energy, the promotion of sustainable construction and resource efficiency advice for business. However, this potential could be hampered by planned activities for airport expansion and a lack of real sustainability thinking and innovation behind delivery plans for new ’sustainable communities'. “To be effective in achieving its objectives and applying the statement of intent, the RES Delivery Plan needs to adopt a clear, consistent and comprehensive approach to sustainability. SSW also endorses the aspiration of the RES to ‘develop the South West as the leading region for sustainable development’, but in order to achieve this sustainable development needs to be integrated across the delivery plan.” Sustainability South West believes the key opportunities for delivering sustainable development through the RES are in:
- ensuring the ‘statement of intent’ informs all the delivery activities of the RES
- boosting local economies (and supporting local communities) by implementing a regional procurement initiative to increase local sourcing of goods and services
Sustainability strengths and weaknesses of the RES identified by SSW include:
Strengths
ü A clearer, updated understanding of sustainable development through the statement of intent to ‘demonstrate that economic growth can be secured within environmental limits’.
ü Support for revising the Regional Sustainable Development Framework and an aspiration to ‘develop the South West as the leading region for sustainable development’.
ü Integrating basic resource efficiency advice into business support.
ü Promoting sustainable construction for new developments and encouraging physical regeneration activity to ‘meet highest design and sustainability standards’ including a green infrastructure.
ü Supporting greater use of ICT and homeworking.
ü Providing some support for renewable energy including the Wavehub demonstration project.
ü Reducing regional inequality by targeting help to the most disadvantaged.ü Commitment to develop a Regional Sustainable Energy Strategy by April 2007.
ü Promoting the supply of affordable housing.
Weaknesses
û Support for expanding the South West’s airports which is likely to increase CO2 emissions and contribute further to climate change.
û Taking a largely high carbon approach to tackling ‘peripherality’.
û Sustainable development principles not fully integrated into developing plans for delivering genuinely ‘sustainable communities’.
û No specific actions identified to proactively encourage or incentivise businesses to achieve high standards of resource efficiency.
û Promoting international trade without applying comprehensive sustainability criteria (including a low carbon approach).
û No actions to mainstream the use of renewable energy.
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© 2012 Sustainability South West - UK registered charity, no. 1106125 - info@sustainabilitysouthwest.org.uk.