A Framework of Sustainability

The principles of sustainable development are too important to be solely confined to individual council activities. For sustainability to work it must be embed throughout the council structures by providing a framework in which all other council policies, procedures and practices reside. In many ways a council's Corporate Strategy should be its Sustainable Development Strategy as this should be emphasising the council's commitment to sustainability.

Sustainable development is not a new activity, its is not an additional activity for councils to start implementing. Rather, it should be viewed as a management framework to help focus councils and their elected members to make decisions that enable them to sustain the local economy and protect the local environment while at the same time increasing their social capital. Creating a framework for sustainable development around which council operations are based will encourage a more holistic approach in how the council does things as well as creating better co-ordination and integration between different council departments.

The diagram below demonstrates how all council activities should be mapped to a sustainable development framework . The Sustainability Audit Matrix is designed to help identify an existing framework of sustainable activity which can be developed to integrate all organisational activitiy within it.