Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development aims to enable all people to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations. It is a key government policy at both national and regional level and is an issue that affects every business, organisation and individual.

GONW has a key role in ensuring that sustainable development is at the heart of regional policy-making and that policies are delivered which make a sustainable difference to the quality of life in the region. This is reflected in the Government's ‘Securing the Regions’ Futures – Strengthening delivery of sustainable development in the English regions' report which was published in April 2006.

UK Sustainable Development Strategy

‘Securing the Future’, the UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy, was launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in March 2005. The Strategy updated ‘A Better Quality of Life: A Strategy for Sustainable Development for the UK’ published in 1999.

The new national strategy is based around five principles:

• living within environmental limits
• ensuring a strong, healthy and just society
• achieving a sustainable economy
• promoting good governance
• using sound science responsibly

And contains four agreed priorities:

• sustainable consumption and production
• climate change
• natural resource protection
• sustainable communities
• It also includes a new indicator set which is more outcome focused.

Sustainable Development In Your Pocket Indicators

An updated picture of the UK's environmental, social and economic wellbeing was published in July 2007, with more than half the official measurements showing improvement.