Skills that turn vision into reality

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Skills that turn vision into reality

• Gill Taylor,
• Chief Executive,
• Academy for Sustainable
• Communities
• Securing the Future
• 1 March 2006, London

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What is a sustainable community?

• Sustainable communities embody sustainable
  development principles at the local level,
  balancing and integrating social, economic and
  environmental goals.
• The sustainable communities agenda is now
  considered under eight key headings
• Active, inclusive and safe
• Well run
• Environmentally sensitive
• Well designed and built
• Well connected
• Thriving
• Well served
• Fair for everyone
• The importance of this agenda is now recognised
  at European level the Bristol Accord.

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Key components
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ASCs key objectives
Inspire, innovate and be a catalyst for culture
change, focusing on

• Increasing generic skills
• Fostering cross-occupational learning
• Targeting skills shortages and creating career
  pathways
• Improving access to best practice and innovation
• Driving forwards a national and international
  consensus on the skills needed for sustainable
  communities

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Importance of the skills and learning agenda

• We need to tackle acute skills shortages in the
  sustainable communities sector barriers to
  delivery
• We need to improve the skills and knowledge of
  all professionals to increase awareness of wider
  sustainable communities issues and understand the
  contribution of others
• We need to provide local people with skills and
  knowledge community empowerment
• We must stop reinventing the wheel and ensure
  we identify and make better use of good practice

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Working with others

• Regional Centres of Excellence / RDAs
• Local Authorities and Regional Assemblies
• Professional bodies and learning providers
• IDeA (Leadership Centre, Planning Advisory
  Service, Leadership Academy)
• Sector Skills Councils
• Government departments and Government Offices
• English Partnerships and other national and
  regional agencies
• Local communities and partnerships

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Creating sustainable communities

• Creating sustainable communities is a key focus
  of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy.
• Sustainable communities integrate a wide range of
  issues including the built and natural
  environment, economic development, social
  progress and community cohesion.
• Creating sustainable communities involves a wide
  range of disciplines, including
• - built and natural environment professionals
• - local authority members and officers
• - housing, transport and economic development
  specialists
• - health and social care and community safety
  workers.

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Key messages

• Sustainable communities embody the principles of
  sustainable development - better use of physical
  and natural resources, more efficient
  connectivity etc.
• Sustainable communities balance and integrate
  social, economic and environmental goals.
• Sustainable means creating local communities that
  meet the needs of people, now and in the future,
  delivering better places that will stand the test
  of time.
• These communities must respect the needs of other
  communities both here and abroad to make their
  communities sustainable.

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And finally

• This agenda provides an extraordinary
  opportunity, as individuals and organisations, to
  change the way that we plan, develop and sustain
  places in this country.
• The creation of sustainable communities will help
  deliver many key aspects of the sustainable
  development strategy.
• www.ascskills.org.uk