Changing Times

Changing Times was the name given to the Local Agenda 21 process in the City of Nottingham. It was steered jointly by Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Green Partnership.

Process
Following a long period of discussion and planning, Changing Times proper began in 1997 with a wide consultation process. A leaflet went to every household in the City Council area, introducing the process and asking people to give their top priorities for the future. This generated responses from 500 individuals, 50 schools and 200 children. An event, 'Making Changes', with 120 participants drew out more vision and action ideas.

At the same time the topic-based sub-groups of Nottingham Green Partnership - Built Environment, Energy, Purchasing and Economy, Transport, etc - came up with strategies for their particular issues.

The community and specialist strands were then drawn together. The work so far was summarised in a booklet called 'A Thousand Voices' in February 1999. The draft LA21 plan, 'Changing Our City', appeared in September of that year, out for consultation till January 2000 - there were 400 responses. A conference with 100 participants looked at it in more detail in March. Over the remainder of the year the plan was revised in the light of comments.

The final version was adopted by Nottingham City Council in early 2001 and published as 'Changing Our City, Changing Ourselves', an attractive 60-page document in full colour.

Unfortunately resources were never allocated to detailed action planning or monitoring progress towards the plan's goals, so as a coordinated process Changing Times basically finished in 2001. Of course many of its topics for concern and specific actions have been addressed by organisations and individuals doing their bit.