Sustainability
Working towards sustainability is not the responsibility of any single organisation. It’s a moral responsibility for all organisations from multi-national to small businesses, and from international to local government.
As a community leader, Hampshire County Council has demonstrated its strong commitment by voluntarily signing up to the Aalborg Commitments in June 2004. We are currently assessing our performance against these commitments, and this audit will be complete by Spring 2006. Our attention will then turn to setting ourselves Hampshire distinctive targets to continually improve our performance both directly and through working with our many partners. This should be complete by Summer 2006.
Conserving the natural environment
Hampshire is one of the richest areas for wildlife in England. This variety of life, or biodiversity, is key to quality of life in Hampshire. Hampshire County Council is conserving the county's natural environment to help ensure that access to nature and the benefits of biodiversity are readily available to everyone. Protecting and maintaining biodiversity is fundamental to the County Council’s core aim Stewardship of the Environment and the Council's commitment to sustainable development.
Hampshire County Council has a national reputation for its work in biodiversity conservation. The Council has a responsibility to ensure that development does not adversely affect valuable areas for wildlife, but is doing much more. The Ecology Group in the Environment Department undertakes many activities to secure the health of the natural environment and is the focus of the Council’s biodiversity programme.
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) are areas of landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them. These areas have special protection under the legislation of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. There are 41 AONBs in England and Wales, and four of these are in Hampshire.
The Hampshire Landscape - a Strategy for the Future
We need a clear understanding of what contributes to the character of the landscape and what changes are influencing and eroding it. At the same time we need to establish how to conserve and enhance it. We also need to promote sustainable management and ensure that development will respect it. If we are to ensure that future generations can enjoy the landscape as we do today, then we need a long-term strategy to guide its evolution and to harness and direct all those actions that will continue for as long as human needs change.
Hampshire Soils
Hampshire’s rich and diverse range of soils have developed over the last 10,000 years, influenced by the gradual evolution of the county’s communities. These soils perform a range of essential functions which underpin Hampshire’s environment, society and economy, yet they are extremely vulnerable to various modern-day pressures which can destroy them in days. Hampshire County Council is establishing a county-wide initiative to address the issues facing Hampshire's soils.
Climate Change
There are two aspects to dealing with climate change: mitigation and adaptation. In order to reduce the impacts of the County Council and Hampshire on the environment mitigation measures must be put in place. These will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also ensure sustainability. It is widely acknowledged that climate change is taking place and even if we were to stop all greenhouse gas emissions today, climate change will still continue. In light of this adaptation measures to deal with the effects of climate change are also very necessary.
On 27th February 2001 Hampshire County Council declared its commitment to taking practical action by signing the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change. This declaration was launched at a major conference organised by the Local Authority Action for Climate Change initiative and commits us to work with central government in delivering the UK climate change programme in this country.
Hampshire County Council is also one of approximately 20 Local Authorities in England and Wales who were selected to take part in the pilot phase of the Councils for Climate Protection Campaign in England and Wales. The pilot focuses on mitigation issues and the identification and measurement of greenhouse gas emissions both corporately by the authority and across the County as a whole.
Hampshire County Council is committed to tackling climate change and is working with different networks and partnerships and across many sectors to address the issues and help find solutions.
Transport
HCC’s Local Transport Plan 2001-2006 is nearing the end of its active life, and the County Council has published a provisional successor plan for the period 2006-2011, to meet the Government’s interim deadline of 29 July 2005. We are currently preparing the final LTP that we will submit to Government by March 2006.
The LTP sets out the County Council’s transport strategy for the next five years. It has been designed to achieve wider policy objectives, such as improving quality of life, protecting the environment, and securing economic prosperity.
The strategy is rooted in a thorough examination of current and future problems and opportunities. It is also firmly set within the context of emerging regional and national policies.
The LTP has been written to meet all the requirements in the Government’s guidance on LTPs and to produce a strategy document that serves the needs of Hampshire’s residents, businesses and visitors.
Waste management and recycling
Hampshire residents produce nearly 900,000 tonnes of household rubbish each year, equivalent in weight to almost 6 Queen Mary 2s. Through kerbside collection and other recycling services across the county, nearly 28% of this is recycled. Although this is third best in the country, we still want to do more and improve that recycling rate to between 40 and 50% – an ambitious target which will involve recycling or composting up to half a million tonnes of material every year.
If we are to achieve this, we must have the support of the people who live in Hampshire. Many residents are keen recyclers already, and now that 95% of households have access to a kerbside recycling service we need to convince more people to make recycling part of their everyday behaviour and recycle more materials, more often.
In Hampshire, all local authorities work together in a unique partnership designed to increase the amount of waste that we recycle. The partnership is known as 'Project Integra'. Hampshire County Council is a key member of the partnership, as it is the designated 'Waste Disposal Authority' for the county (except Southampton and Portsmouth).
Hampshire has challenging government targets to meet and with your help we aim to increase Hampshire's recycling and composting rate from 29% (2004/05) to between 40-50% by 2010. A major new campaign 'Recycle for Hampshire' which the County Council supports, has been launched and will help to achieve those targets.
Water in Hampshire
Hampshire is blessed with a rich and diverse variety of rivers and wetlands, many of which are of international importance. The County Council is increasingly concerned however, about the substantial and increasing pressures that are being placed on Hampshire’s water environment. Such pressures include new development, climate change, and domestic consumption.
In response, the County Council is co-ordinating the multi-agency ‘Water in Hampshire’ project. The project aims to raise the profile of water; gain a better understanding of the environmental, planning and management issues associated with the county’s water environment; and to develop sustainable solutions. The project is being undertaken via a number of stages:
Environmental information
Hampshire County Council believes that decisions should be made openly and visibly, and that all information should be freely available unless there is good reason for it to be kept confidential.
The Freedom of Information Act – which gives individuals ‘a general right of access to information held by public authorities’ – was passed in November 2000 and has come into force in stages. For further information about the Act, or if you would like to see information you think we hold, visit our Freedom of Information webpages.
If the information you request relates to the environment, it will be handled in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) rather than the Freedom of Information Act.