Sustainability network for England

This page was triggered by discussion on the localsustuk email list about the development of the Government's Community Action 2020 process. As happens from time to time, the idea of a national network for sustainable development practitioners came up. Wouldn't it be good, we said. Isn't it an important thing to have, we said. And all looked around for somebody else to do something about it.

Pfft. Alright, let's see if we can actually articulate what we're on about and maybe do something about it, or stop talking about it. This page is a skeleton for discussion. The main page is for building up a collection of ideas; a kind of brainstorming board. The attached discussion area reached by the tab at the top should be used to air issues that might go on a bit, or to seek consensus for something that might be contentious (e.g. changing the structure of the main page after folk have started building it up.

Process
This page was created on Monday 20th February by Tim Gray. We'll run an initial brainstorming period for a week; I'll keep an eye on the page, especially for structure or wiki type issues. On Monday 27th February we'll take stock of discussion, and see whether it can be summarised in a useful way.

What should it do, and for who?
We'll be able to think of different functions, and different target groups who should be linked in somehow; and each of those groups will have its own needs and contributions. So, brainstorm! (These categories might or might not seem exhaustive - best use the discussion area to sound out major changes.)

Local authority SD practitioners

 * SPN e-group approx 200 emails - 10 actives and 49 'alive' members - from April e-survey - though on not-very-user-friendly Microsoft e-service.

Communicated with SDC (Harriet Festing) about potential support - really needs LA/Public sector SD 'network coordinator'. (LGA just set up Env Network for LG Env Officers & Directors Env Forum)


 * Y&H e-group 'alive and well' as info-exchange - 74 email addresses - GOYH do not have SD in SLA from Government - network support diminished.


 * Y&H Education for SD - run separately and resourced by Yorkshire Forward RDA and others...

- Added by Jamie Saunders 20/2/06
 * Other 'professional groupings' eg recycling/waste, etc

General public

 * Raise profile of SD and make it digestible enough to take on board

Existing tools and resources

 * Sustainable Community Action wiki (this site!)