From global discourse to local action? Town councils and sustainable development

Sustainable development is generally accepted as a policy imperative. However, it can be interpreted in very different ways and is perhaps best regarded as a discourse rather than as a precisely defined term. It is also generally accepted that `sustainable development' requires actions at all spatial scales and by all levels of government, including the local. However, parish and town councils, which are the most local level of local government in rural England, are given no responsibilities in relation to sustainability. This thesis is intended to investigate the potential of parish and town councils to take a leadership role in increasing the sustainability of their communities. A casestudy approach is used, involving the study of five larger local councils in the county of Gloucestershire, in the context of larger-scale sustainable development discourses. Two case-study projects are also analysed to study how different discourses come together at the local level. We find that the concept of `sustainable development' has been adapted by UK government to conform to wider political discourses. However, government interpretations are not necessarily reproduced at the local level, where inherent contradictions become more apparent. Although parish and town councillors may express commitment to `sustainable development', they tend to interpret it in terms of the local and the relatively short- term. A discourse of local council legitimation is identified by which councillors see their role as caring for their parish, with the benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking. The thesis concludes that if parish and town councils are to contribute to sustainable development, they must be given specific powers encompassing the global and long-term effects of local activities, and other local groups must see the local council as a leader of the community and `sustainability arbiter', rather than as just another interest group

From global discourse to local action? Town councils and sustainable development

Sustainable development is generally accepted as a policy imperative. However, it\ud can be interpreted in very different ways and is perhaps best regarded as a discourse\ud rather than as a precisely defined term. It is also generally accepted that `sustainable\ud development' requires actions at all spatial scales and by all levels of government,\ud including the local. However, parish and town councils, which are the most local\ud level of local government in rural England, are given no responsibilities in relation\ud to sustainability.\ud This thesis is intended to investigate the potential of parish and town councils to\ud take a leadership role in increasing the sustainability of their communities. A casestudy\ud approach is used, involving the study of five larger local councils in the\ud county of Gloucestershire, in the context of larger-scale sustainable development\ud discourses. Two case-study projects are also analysed to study how different\ud discourses come together at the local level.\ud We find that the concept of `sustainable development' has been adapted by UK\ud government to conform to wider political discourses. However, government\ud interpretations are not necessarily reproduced at the local level, where inherent\ud contradictions become more apparent. Although parish and town councillors may\ud express commitment to `sustainable development', they tend to interpret it in terms\ud of the local and the relatively short- term. A discourse of local council legitimation\ud is identified by which councillors see their role as caring for their parish, with the\ud benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking.\ud The thesis concludes that if parish and town councils are to contribute to sustainable\ud development, they must be given specific powers encompassing the global and\ud long-term effects of local activities, and other local groups must see the local\ud council as a leader of the community and `sustainability arbiter', rather than as just\ud another interest group

Study of Determined Town and Village Green Applications: Final Report to Common Land Team, Defra

The purpose of the research, as set out in the Project Brief, was to ‘examine a sample of the sites which have been registered as town or village greens (TVGs) since January 2004 as well as a sample of those that have not been registered’. The common term for both successful and unsuccessful applications is that either outcome has been ‘determined’ by Commons Registration Authority (CRA), therefore the study was an investigation into determined town and village green (dTVG) applications. The project also set out to examine whether the sites were earmarked for development in local development plans or subject to planning applications. The full diversity of sites, both approved and rejected, was analysed

Proving Our Value: The Gloucestershire Action Research Project

This research project was one of five sister projects commissioned by South West Forum under the Proving Our Value (POV) programme between 2011 and 2013. Each project was designed to evidence impact and to help develop analytical tools whereby Social Purpose Organisations (SPOs) might better clarify the outcomes of their work and thereby proclaim more successfully their social value. Our particular project has focused on three local community development organisations in Gloucestershire: • Gloucester City Centre Community Partnership (GCCCP) (voluntary organisation covering the Westgate ward of the city) • Fair Shares Gloucestershire (time bank with several branches in the county) • GL11 (community project based in Cam covering the GL11 postcode area

Sustainability and attitudes to locality: the discourse of town and parish councillors

The possible role of parish and town councils (local councils) in the local implementation of sustainable development has been overlooked both in research and in policy-making. This article is based on research into local councillors' attitudes to sustainability and to their own role within a single county. A “discourse of local council legitimation” is identified, in which local councillors see their communities as living organisms, whose interests they represent with the benefit of local knowledge and holistic thinking – characteristics which they see as absent at other levels of government. Local councillors essentially see their role as local and relatively short-term – a perspective that will have to be addressed if local councils are to make a significant contribution to sustainability