Sustainable development has been placed at the centre of decision-making in South Gloucestershire Council. It underpins all other goals, policies and processes and provides a framework for integrating economic, social and environmental concerns over time.
The Sustainable Community Strategy sets out the long-term social, economic and environmental goals for South Gloucestershire. The Council Plan describes how the Council will work to achieve this, through its Core Values and Corporate Aims. In combination they provide the strategic decision-making framework for the Council.
The sustainability appraisal process has been devised to help us align our activities and decisions with the Council’s strategic framework. Properly assessing sustainability implications will mean that we identify and manage negative impacts and realise opportunities for achieving positive outcomes.
A sustainability appraisal involves the systematic identification and evaluation of the social, economic and environmental impacts of a proposal. Council policy is to carry out a sustainability appraisal of all key decisions.
The Council has reviewed its Sustainability Appraisal guidance during 2009, and the revised draft guidance document is available to download from the 'Read more' box on the right-hand side of this page.