take action / district strategy / canterbury, kent

Canterbury Partnership Environment Group strategy

Environmental strategy for the district has been a long time coming. This is the strategy that the Canterbury Partnership Environment Group has developed, it is now time to start delivering on these actions! If you would like to get involved either as a committee member or on an occasional basis please contact sue@greeninformation.co.uk (Sue is the Chair of the group and can guarantee this is a "doing" group not a talking shop)

The group is aware that these actions and targets may seem ambitious however this is a long term plan and every journey starts with a single step.

If you have a copy of the environment strategy for another district please send it to us to publish. There could be some good ideas exchanged this way. If you live outside the Canterbury area why not contact your local district council and see if they have something similar you can get involved with (or you can help with ours if you wish!)

We will publish articles about each section that we are working on so you can see how this work develops. The overall strategy will take us up to 2030 so we are thinking long term and will adapt it as time and knowledge progresses. Please let us know if you think there is something else we should cover.

Outcome 1: Growing the Knowledge Economy

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 1: Develop Higher Education and Further Education links
Encourage investment in environmental research, manufacturing, and sales.	Obtain funding for a research chair	University of Kent
	Annual number of staff (FTE) employed in environmental research	HE and FE institutions
	Annual number of environmental research projects started.	HE and FE institutions

Outcome 3: Delivering the Green Economy

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 1: Minimise contribution to and adapt to the consequences of climate change
Conduct annual survey of partners to establish re-use of products and use of recycled materials	Survey undertaken during 2009	Environment Group	Canterbury Partnership
Provide advice and grant support for households suffering from fuel poverty	750 energy efficient grant/advice packages provided each year 08/09 - 1104 packages	Kent Energy Centre	CCC
Conduct annual survey of partners to establish business mileage and use of alternatives (walking, cycling, public transport, teleworking)	Survey undertaken during 2009	Environment Group C4B	Canterbury Partnership
Actively review climate change research and ensure that long term strategies take appropriate account of the forecast impacts of climate change	Number of strategies that are appropriate account of the forecast impacts of climate change and emergency plans in place (including LDF)	Environment Group	CCC KCC

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 2: Demonstrate and promote environmental leadership in the community , education and employment
Promote local produce and local service suppliers, Fair-trade, and organic produce	Establish 2008 baseline for the numbers of organic/local suppliers used by partners, and value/volume of local produce used. Future targets will be set after 2008 baseline established	Environment Group	Canterbury Partnership
	Five per cent increase in number of shops/supermarkets, cafes/restaurants, workplaces, and organisations selling and/or using at least two fair-trade products by 2012	Canterbury District Fair-trade Network CCP Town centre management	CCC
Raise awareness of the biodiversity duty for public bodies, and take action to conserve biodiversity in the district	One hundred per cent of planning applications each year include biodiversity questions	CCC Application forms and Code for Sustainable Homes already achieving this as part of planning process	Environment Group
	Blean woods and Stour Valley recognised and managed as regional reserves (possibly as part of Natural East Kent) by 2010	Blean Initiative, Kent Stour Countryside Project
Promote and achieve awards that recognise environmental excellence	Retain and increase annual number of Eco Schools Herne - silver (2009)	KCC	Environment Group
	Retain and increase annual number of Eco Congregations	Environment Group	CANDIFA
	Promote and increase area of woodland certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)	Blean Initiative, CCC
	Promote environment awards for B&Bs, hotels, and guesthouses	Environment Group	Visit Kent
	Annual number of businesses from the district entering the Environment Awards for Kent Business	Kent Sustainable Business Partnership C4B	Environment Group
	Retain and increase annual number of Green Flag, Green Pennant and Green Heritage awards in district	CCC	Environment Group
	Retain and increase annual number of coastal awards (Blue Flag, Seaside Awards, Quality Coast Awards (QCA's) in district 2008 - CCC had 2 Blue Flags and 2 QCA's 2009 - CCC had 1 Blue Flag and 3 QCA's (Blue Flag lost in August due to poor water quality results)	CCC	Environment Group
Organise events/conferences to raise awareness of topical environmental issues	Two events organised each year	Environment Group	CDCA C4B LCSP’s
Encourage development and uptake of environment education	Annual number of environmental education courses offered by HE and FE institutions	HE and FE institutions
Encourage development and uptake of environment education	Annual number of visitors to Environmental Education Centres	CEEC, Wildwood

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 3: Develop and promote the Green Offer of the district and surrounding areas
Increase awareness, use and appreciation of elements of the green offer	Establish 2008 baseline for the annual number of visitors to environmental attractions Future targets will be set after 2008 baseline established	Environment Group	CCC
	Satisfaction with the use of elements of the green offer (as assessed by consultations)	Environment Group	Visit Kent
Investigate possibility of establishing green tours around the district	Discussions held with all relevant partners by 2010	Environment Group	C4B Visit Kent
Increase awareness and take up of green accreditation schemes for the tourism industry (for example , the Green Tourism Business Scheme)	Ten per cent of tourism businesses belong to the scheme by 2010	CCC	C4B Kent Sustainable Business Partnership

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 4: Improve the local environment
Produce an annual ‘State of the Environment’ report for the district	Produce 2008 baseline year report during 2009 This is underway, if you would like to contribute please contact CPEG	Environment Group	Canterbury Partnership
Protect and enhance the natural environment	Sixty per cent of SSSI area in favourable condition	Natural England

Outcome 4: Sustainable Communities

Action	Target	Lead Agency	Other Partners
Objective 6: To increase and support volunteering and community involvement
Encourage community involvement in protecting/enhancing the natural environment and public open spaces		CCC	CDCA

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We have added 3 surveys to the take action section for any business or organisation in the Canterbury area to take part in to support the work of the Canterbury Partnership Environment Group. If you are working in an Partnership Environment Group elsewhere in the country please get in touch if we can support your strategy deliverables.

We have recently added a comments box at the bottom of each article. If you have anything you would like to add or even if you disagree with what is being said please add your comments.