Applying Sustainability to the Council’s Plans and Policies

1. Applying Sustainability to the Council’s Plans and Policies The Sustainability Charter and Best Value

3. What is the Sustainability Charter? • Launched in February 2004 • Describes the Council’s commitment to sustainability • Defines ‘Our Principles of Sustainability’ • Responsible management of natural, built and community resources • The need to care for both present and future generations • Environmental responsibilities and community well-being

4. Action What we will do Reduced use of key resources Energy and Water Consumption: We will seek to reduce the consumption of energy and water in all Council buildings by 5 percent between 2004 and 2007 Waste Production: We will produce a waste audit to analyse all the types of waste produced within the Council and improve recycling and waste reduction measures Travel: We will cut the business mileage of Council staff, and reduce drive alone car commuting by staff by 1 percent by 2006 / 2007 Raising Awareness We will introduce a training programme to help Council employees play their full part in delivering this action plan We will encourage all staff to develop initiatives in support of sustainability issues at work and at home – for example, through providing advice on how to conserve energy, cut back on transport and reduce waste. Where possible, we will also help staff to implement improvements. Guidelines for buying goods and services We will produce guidelines to help staff source and select goods ad services which have been sustainably produced or managed Reducing our footprint We will assess the environmental footprint of Aberdeenshire and incorporate measures to introduce it into policies and decision making at all levels Encouraging Consultation The Sustainability Working Group monitors the work carried out in Aberdeenshire on the Sustainability Charter The Council has agreed to co-opt external representatives from environment and related groups to share their experience with the Sustainability Working Group Reducing Greenhouse Gases We have a long-term goal to significantly reduce the production of greenhouse gases by 2050. Every three years we will monitor progress made in the Action programme.

5. How is the Charter Monitored? • The Sustainability Officer’s Working Group are a group of representatives that progress projects under the Charter – meets every 2 months • The Sustainability Working Group are a group of councillors, officers and co-opted representatives that discuss sustainability across the Council • A new Sustainable Environment Theme Forum will engage Aberdeenshire-wide organisations in a Forum to progress best practice across a range of organisations with an interest in sustainability • A Sustainability Charter Annual Report is published each year • Sustainability outcomes monitored through the Strategic and Service Plans

6. Boosting the case for sustainability – Some other plans and policies • Strategic Plan – Sustainable Environment Theme • Community Plan – Sustainable Environment Theme and Theme Forum • Service Plans • Local Plan • Travel Plan, Renewable Energy Strategy, Integrated Sustainable Waste Management Strategy, Sustainable Purchasing Policy

7. Best Value •   The duty of Best Value is to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance (while maintaining an appropriate balance between quality and cost); and in making those arrangements and securing that balance, to have regard to economy, efficiency, effectiveness, the equal opportunities requirements and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development; • ·      The duty to achieve break-even in trading accounts subject to mandatory disclosure; • ·       The duty to observe proper accounting practices; • ·      The duty to make arrangements for the reporting to the public of the outcome of the performance of functions. • Aberdeenshire gearing up for BV Audit later this year

8. Local Government Act (Scotland) 2003 The duty of Best Value in the Local Government Scotland Act requires that: “The local authority shall discharge its duties….in a way which contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development” Although decisions how to implement Sustainable Development should be left to individual local authorities AUDITORS WILL BE LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE THAT THE AUTHORITY IS TAKING ITS OBLIGATIONS SERIOUSLY.

9. The Advice of the Best Value Task Force • The key aim of the BVTF accompanying advice to the act is that Sustainable Development should be ‘mainstreamed’ into the Council. It should work toward integrating SD into: • -The political management structure • Corporate planning and derived service plans • Consultation processes • Communications with staff and others • Codes of governance • Allocation of resources • Review practices

10. The BV Task Force suggest local authorities can: • Aim to use products and services that make the most positive contribution to sustainable development • Take action on waste minimisation. Aim to reduce, re-use and recycle resources within all services. • Review energy usage, with an aim to tackle fuel poverty, reduce energy demands and use renewable resources • Use recycled products and specify them in contracts • Reduce the impact of transport on people, communities and the environment • Seek to safeguard and develop clean, safe and healthy environments for all • Aim to reduce carbon emissions and their effects on climate change • Develop indicators • LAs can also use the Power to Advance Well Being to benefit the communities they serve – partnerships for action

11. Think About What You Can Do. • Sustainable Development should be reflected in Plans, Policies, Strategies, Programmes and Reports wherever possible • Use the Sustainability Charter, Sustainable Purchasing Policy, to guide your actions – e.g consider sustainable options when buying goods and services • Use the Sustainability Implications section of Committee Reports • Let us know – Key reports to the Sustainability Working Group, write key achievements into Best Value self assessments –consult via the Sustainability Officers Working Group

12. It’s not just another ‘initiative’ Potential rewards include: • Potentially making a real difference • Mechanism for connecting with communities through Power to Advance Wellbeing • A sustainable development culture shift • A good audit • Resource efficiency = longer-term financial efficiency • Best practice – innovation • Clearly demonstrates we practice what we preach

13. Further Information Arcadia home>our council>environment>sustainability Website home/site directory/environment/green living www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/green/index.asp

14. Aberdeenshire’s Ecological Footprint

15. What is a ‘footprint’? Definition: “The Ecological Footprint is a resource management tool that measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes under prevailing technology”. (Source: Global Footprint Network)

16. From a footprinting point of view sustainability is based on the recognition that when resources are consumed faster than they are produced or renewed, the resource is eventually used up. To understand the humanity’s footprint we need to know two key things: -Ecological Supply (the available biocapacity / ecological capacity) -Ecological Demand (our use of biolological resources / the footprint).

17. Supply v Demand Source: WWF, 2004 Put another way, we use about 21 % more of what is available to us

18. That’s easy to fix – just use 21 percent less Wrong! Some countries have a much larger footprint than others. Source:WWF 2004

19. If everyone lived like we do in the UK we would need 3 planets

20. How do we fare in Aberdeenshire? Note: there are 32 additional categories. = 5.2 global ha per person

21. The North East Global Footprint Project • The Global Footprint Project for the North East is a partnership between Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and WWF Scotland. It will: • measure our footprint • develop a software tool to assess different policy options • develop strategies and projects to reduce our footprint • create education materials for schools in the region • The Project is funded by the Scottish Executive, WWF Scotland, Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Power.

22. Reducing our Footprint through Green Procurement We can reduce our footprint by altering what we buy. -Energy efficient products use less CO2 (CO2accounts for 66 percent of Aberdeenshire’s footprint) -Re-using and recycling products can save on natural resources and save on waste -Buying local reduces transport miles -Long-lasting products need replacing less -Renewable energy is carbon neutral -Vegetables have a much lower impact than meat products

23. ` Aberdeenshire Council’s Sustainable Purchasing Policy • A) All purchasing will take the following considerations into account: • The actual need for the product or service –is it essential? Does it need to be replaced? • Can we re-use or recycle instead of making a purchase? • Does the product represent value for money or ‘best value’? • The end of life solution for material goods –can a product be re-used or recycled at the end of its life? • Links to relevant Council policies and strategies • Any relevant legal requirements relating to purchasing • B) So far as is reasonably practicable, consideration will be given to: • The socio-economic, environmental and ethical implications of goods and services purchased throughout the life cycle of the product • The way in which goods or services are transported (for instance, can fuel miles be reduced?) • The whole life costs of goods and services • See the Policy on www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/green/buying.asp

24. What How Why? Example: Conference flyer e.g. printed on recycled paper Recycled paper avoids waste, uses less energy, represents good value Conference flyer Letters to delegates Transport arrangements for delegates Provision of hotel accommodation Conference programme Delegates pack / bag Display materials Tea and coffee Lunch Post event questionnaire Dealing with waste from the event Aberdeenshire is holding a major conference to publicise the Ecological Footprint to a global community. How would you organise the conference? Fill in the table below to show what you would purchase (or any ways you could avoid making purchases) in order to have a low impact / good value conference.

25. Sustainable lunch – you decide • Some fairly traded items • Vegetarian items • One or two organic items • But • Food miles (supplier Green City – Glasgow based) • Packaging • Some meat based products – but local supplier