1 Public Service Review: Local Government and the Regions: issue 20

There is little doubt that the idea of sustainable

development is here to stay. The upcoming United

Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in

Rio1 will once again discuss what sustainable development

means to the world as it takes as its primary focus the

institutional framework of sustainable development and a

green economy in the context of sustainable development

and poverty eradication. A counter on the website indicates

the number of days left to the conference, with the slogan

‘days to the future we want’. And it is exactly this sentiment

that embodies the fundamental tensions within the idea

of sustainable development. This tension is highlighted in

the simple question: ‘the future that who wants?’

Sustainable development is a notoriously slippery term – it

is difficult to define, and therefore difficult to implement.

It has been accused of being a contradiction in terms, an

oxymoron, and a term so fuzzy that it means anything to

everyone and so is useless as a guiding principle.

With this said I am a strong supporter of the idea of

sustainable development. Whatever the outcome of Rio+20,

international events such as these raise awareness and

reinforce a global discourse that highlights the continuing

problems of diminishing and inequitable distribution of

resources. They demonstrate a level of commitment by

world leaders to address these problems and motivate

moral and ethical sentiment. This is an ongoing academic

and political debate. However, the focus here is the

integration of sustainable development into local politics.

Regardless of the positive outcomes of global conferences

the term remains contested and ill defined, and it is little

wonder therefore that national and local governments

have difficulty in articulating the concept into effective

frameworks and programmes aimed at addressing real

world problems. Furthermore, this lack of definition is

compounded by the perceptions at the local level that

sustainable development is a top down imposed agenda.

It is perhaps the perception of sustainable development

that it is a top down, imposed framework that makes it

difficult to translate into the more local context.

In a time of austerity, where local problems seem more

acute, policies imposed by the international community –

the United Nations, European Union, Organisation of

The University of Plymouth’s Dr Gregory Borne considers the need for parish councilengagement to move past ‘symbolic politics’ towards sustainable development…

Power to the parish

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Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) etc –

seem far removed from the everyday lived experiences of

those people in local communities. It is exactly this

communication barrier that needs to be overcome and

addressed and this will be the front line of integrating the

principles of sustainable development into the local policy

framework. This is important because as well as being a

concept that has arisen from a global problematique, the

concept, properly articulated and developed, encourages

holistic policy development as well as concepts of equity

and inter-generational equity. An unfortunate side effect,

or even a direct result of local government’s need to

legitimise their own policies and programmes through

external pressure to integrate sustainable development,

means that the end result can be cosmetic and ineffectual.

With that in mind, over the past decade national, sub-

national and local government have driven forward

significantly to embed sustainable development into their

practices. However, a review of policies and programmes

from an international basis suggests that policies based

on sustainable development are more symbolic with a

high level of political currency but little real world impact.

Whilst there has been significant progress, for example

with programmes drawing on Local Agenda 21, there is

still a lack of salience at the community level.

With the aforementioned rather gloomy assessment in

mind, the UK has one of the world’s most well-developed

sustainable development strategies, and the challenge of

devolution and the achievement of a Big Society in whatever

form that may take, will depend very much on its effective

transmission and integration with local government.

The recent Localism Act will also stimulate discussion on

what sustainable development actually means to local

communities. A very visible example of this has been the

debates that have surrounded the changes in the National

Planning Policy Framework. The framework document

uses the term sustainable development over 50 times and

emphasises the need for a ‘presumption in favour of

sustainable development’. The final document has now

been more broadly accepted but only time will tell the

impact this will have on the built environment over the

coming years.

There are a number of other areas that may be directly

applied to sustainable development governance at the

local level, but the crux of this discussion is how we

overcome the idea of a symbolic politics, how we get past

policies that only pay lip service to creating a sustainable

development when in fact, they are continuing along the

same ‘business as usual’ lines.

To this end I focus on the importance of one area to which

I am able to bring my own insights from extensive

research over the past few years. This is the devolution of

power to town and parish councils that has been made

explicit in a number of government documents. There are

over 10,000 local councils in England and they represent

the closest level of government to the community. Forces

are in motion to increase the power of parish councils

in order to form direct community engagement and

consultation with community members on the future of

their local environments. The Open Public Services White

Paper (2011) and the recent review of this paper (March

2012) emphasise the importance that town and parish

councils play within their local communities.

The advantage of empowering the town and parish level of

local government is the visibility of the outputs of

programmes developed. At this level the idea of symbolic

politics with regard to sustainable development is dispelled

because of the immediate and direct impact of the policies

developed. Research conducted in Devon and Cornwall

adds weight to this assertion. The research, amongst other

things, explored what sustainable development meant to

members of town and parish councils, and what they say

is the best way of integrating this concept into their local

communities. There was support for the principles of the

concept, an integrated approach including environmental,

social and economic factors, ideas of equity and community.

As expected however, there was confusion over how to

translate these ideals into real outputs, as well as frustration

with principal authorities and national government at

opaque and mixed messages with convoluted or non-

existent lines of communication. As such, there is an urgent

need to provide guidance and support for sustainable

development to this level of government.

If handled effectively with the correct guidance and support,

with an appreciation of diversity, there is a real opportunity

to use sustainable development as a guiding principle, and

implemented at the local community level move past the

idea of symbolic politics for real and positive change.

There does of course need to be a continued analysis of the

policy context for sustainable development; in other

words, the framing of the policy and the structural and

societal context. The real danger is that without the analysis

of the context of the policy and the lines of communication –

particularly between the principal authority and the

community level – there will be continued confusion, a

lack of coherence, and fractured and disjointed policies

and programmes that do not address community issues.

There is a real opportunity to make sustainable development

work using the parish council as a conduit through which

local communities can respond to the challenges and risks

of the 21st Century.

1 www.uncsd2012.org

2Public Service Review: Local Government and the Regions: issue 20

Dr Gregory Borne MRICS MIEnvSC FRGS CEnvLecturer Public Management and PolicyUniversity of PlymouthTel: +44 (0)1752 585727gregory.borne@plymouth.ac.ukwww.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/gborneTwitter: @gborne1