Sustainable development policy

Vision
Approach
Aims
Priority areas
Delivery

Vision

A sustainable Swansea is a great place to live now and in the future. Somewhere that is inclusive and safe and provides an excellent start to life. A county that supports a prosperous and resilient economy, recognises and benefits fully from its exceptional environment and promotes good health.

To achieve this, the council needs to deliver services which create greener, safer and more prosperous communities. Partnership working with the community and with colleagues in the business, public and voluntary sector will be vital.

The City and County of Swansea defines sustainable development as:

"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
                                      (Bruntland 1987)

Approach

The council is committed to investing in the county's future by developing and supporting a community that is based upon sustainable development. It aims to ensure all its actions and policies are sustainable, by integrating economic, social and environmental goals, whilst pursuing the Community Strategy's objectives. We will take into account the following in everything we do:

• Citizen focused decision making
• Operate within environmental limits
• Long term thinking
• Recognition of our actions in a national and global context

Aims

Failing to achieve this vision will be costly both economically and socially for Swansea's communities, and will impact on the council's performance. To ensure the council meets these challenges it needs to apply the following principles:

• Develop clear leadership to enable better strategic thinking and planning.
• Adoption of sustainable development as one of the council's central organising principles.
• Commitment from all staff throughout the council to applying sustainable development principles to their work.
• Changing the working culture to one that works on the basis of long-term thinking, and considers the wider economic, social and environmental costs.
• Develop smarter working practices including looking at cross boundary solutions.
• Placing community needs, now and in the future, at the centre of the decision making process.
• Taking account of the full range of economic, environmental and social impacts and issues in everything we do based on good evidence.
• Promotion of the principles of a just society, social cohesion and good citizenship, locally and globally.
• Increasing community engagement and participation.
• Effective partnership working with other organisations and authority.

Priority areas

The following topics are priority areas for the council. Each priority area is relevant to a range of different service areas:

Delivery

The policy will be delivered by the whole council through corporate policies and strategies and front line delivery. This work by council services will be supported by the corporate Sustainable Development Framework. The Sustainable Development Framework is a supporting document which provides information on sustainable development and what it means to the council in the context of national and local drivers. It celebrates what we are doing well and sets out a five year action plan for improvements to achieve the Sustainable Development Policy's vision and aims. The action plan is reviewed annually.