INTRODUCTION

  1.  Groundwork is a federation of 48 locally-owned Groundwork Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, between them working with over 100 local authorities to deliver "joined-up" solutions to the challenges faced by our most deprived communities.

  2.  Groundwork has 21 years experience of engaging and involving communities in practical projects to improve quality of life and promote sustainable development. Last year Groundwork supported 4,800 projects encouraging volunteers of all ages to give up 340,000 days of their time, worked with 7,000 businesses, provided 50,000 weeks worth of training and created 2,500 jobs.

  3.  Groundwork aims to deliver sustainable development, linking people, places and prosperity, and in particular addressing learning, skills and business support issues. Groundwork helps businesses and other organisations stay competitive and successful by improving their environmental performance. We do this by offering practical advice, environmental reviews, waste and energy audits and by helping businesses to work together more to cut down on their costs. Our aim is to show that businesses can become more profitable if they take a more responsible attitude towards the environment and their local community. Many Groundwork Trusts have their own trading company offering a range of commercial services including "environmental business services (ebs)". This activity is promoted nationally under the name Groundwork ebs.

  4.  Groundwork has responded to the creation of the Regional Development Agencies and the potential election of regional assemblies by developing its own regional structures. Groundwork's regional offices assist Trusts by operating at a strategic regional level, promoting our capabilities across a wider area and in a more co-ordinated manner. It also enables us to provide regional programmes, some of which have the support of Development Agencies and other regional bodies.

  5.  Groundwork recognises that regional development is a picture far more complex than a north-south divide. There are hot spots in every region, attracting enterprise and development, while outlying areas remain neglected. Even in London, one of the world's wealthiest cities, there are sizeable areas of poverty and deprivation. So the goal should not be to make every region as prosperous as London and the South East. Rather, regional development should be bottom up, concentrating on building sustainable communities and thriving neighbourhoods where people want to live and work, so that the infrastructure is as sustainable as possible and the area becomes an attractive and viable place in which to invest.

THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PROMOTING PROSPERITY

  1.1  Regional Development Agencies are at the front line—with a statutory duty to deliver on economic development but also to promote Sustainable Development, thereby linking the economy with society and the environment. There are many examples that demonstrate that economic success is possible through improving the environment and community strength.

INCREASING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

  2.1  Simple training can help businesses plan their own environmental management activities, saving costs and increasing profitability. Groundwork has developed three courses in different areas of the UK, aimed at giving businesses the skills to undertake their own audits and implement environmental management systems. They are accredited by national bodies CIEH (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health), IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment) and CIWEM (Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management). The courses have been developed and are delivered by Groundwork Trusts in the North West, Kent and the four Trusts in the West Midlands. They have led to 1,000 people gaining new qualifications and demand is increasing. Groundwork is exploring ways of expanding delivery across the country so that we can help businesses in every region to thrive.

  2.2  The Regional Development Agencies should be encouraging the Small Business Service to prioritise environmental management as part of mainstream programmes, putting environmental management training and assistance at the heart of its business support.

  2.3  An example of where this has been successfully achieved at regional level is ENWORKS, a unique environmental business support programme charged with improving business competitiveness and environmental excellence throughout the North West. It is supported by the North West Development Agency and managed by the North West Business Environment Partnership. The Partnership Board includes Groundwork North West, Small Business Service, the Environment Agency, North West Regional Assembly, United Utilities and North West Chamber of Commerce. Government Office North West are advisors to the Board.

  2.4  ENWORKS will invest a total of £15 million in the North West over six years, including £5 million from the North West Development Agency and is a model of how co-operation between RDAs and environmental support organisations can deliver significant benefits for business which has the potential to be replicated in every other English region. The programme aims to provide a simple gateway for businesses in the North West to access support, and to help them work towards an agreed set of environmental and quality targets. In turn, it will help them improve both their business and their environmental performance.

  2.5  The programme has three core elements:

—  Business Environment Associations: Six BEAs covering the region, providing practical support.

  ISM is one of the North West's largest waste management and recycling companies, based in Bury. Emissions from their transport fleet are a significant environmental impact. In order to address this issue the company has undertaken and implemented a series of measures designed to reduce fuel consumption. These include specialist driver training, scrutiny of driver practices, and the installation of an electronic control unit to reduce emissions.

  The company have cut fuel usage by 57% during engine tick-over period reducing which resulted in an estimated total annual saving of £35,438, greating benefiting the environment and the company's own efficiency.

  ESM first joined Groundwork's Business Environment Association in June 1998. In 1999, the company won an award at the BEA Annual Dinner in the category Energy Conservation/Waste Minimisation for this project and at the start of 2002, they increased their involvement with the BEA, becoming patrons.

—  Green Business Parks: Seven beacon GBPs, enabling business to work together for mutual benefit.

—  Training for Sustainability: A programme of training for companies to gain the knowledge and skills required to make environmental practice profitable. This includes both basic awareness training and specialist and technical training.

  Further information about ENWORKS is available at www.enworks.com

  2.6  Groundwork Wales has developed a programme on Environmental Innovation and Competitiveness using £3.2 million from the Objective one European Union fund and the Welsh Development Agency over three years. It includes initiatives such as the Green Dragon Standard, a stepped environmental management programme assisting and recognising effective environmental management within Welsh business. The programme is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, The National Assembly for Wales, Environment Agency Wales, Welsh Development Agency, Local Authorities and Business Connect Wales and it has been developed as a partnership project between ARENA Network and Groundwork Wales.

THE WIDER ENVIRONMENT—DELIVERING SKILLS AND ENTERPRISE

  3.1  Beyond simply fulfilling legislative requirements, there is a great deal of scope for helping businesses to become more responsible neighbours, protecting and improving the local environment and supporting the local community. However, SMEs in particular need support to get involved. The voluntary sector has a good track record of enabling local businesses to build partnerships with public sector and the community, and this intermediary activity should be actively supported by Regional Development Agencies.

  3.2  Changing Places, Changing London Lives is a pan-London programme for neighbourhood renewal, funded by the London Development Agency as part of SRB 6 and delivered by the Groundwork London Partnership. A key element of the programme is focused on unlocking economic potential and generating employment. This includes developing basic skills as gateways to lifelong learning and vocational training, and promoting local employment through Intermediate Labour Market schemes. One element of this programme offers skills-related initiatives for SMEs, focusing principally on the airport corridors. Training programmes on environmental quality and legal compliance are being developed with SMEs geared to supply-chain business opportunities in the Lee Valley for Stansted, in the Wandle Valley for Gatwick and in the Western Approaches for Heathrow. The programme has potential for wider development throughout London.

  3.3  A further element of the Changing Places, Changing London Lives programme involves working with town centre partnerships, and businesses on industrial estates to promote local employment and attract investment as well as developing advice and support to businesses on waste minimisation, environmental quality and local impact. For example, in West Ealing a key objective is to safeguard the viability of the local business community by encouraging new and diversified enterprises, including community businesses. So far results include: employing street wardens on an initial pilot basis, improved shop frontages, and the recruitment of green apprentices during summer holidays to assist in regeneration and awareness raising for the town centre. While assisting local businesses in their profitability, this programme also contributes to the overall regeneration of the local area, creating a more "liveable" environment for the local community.

  3.4  Groundwork is also developing a number of "green business parks" (see also ENWORKS above), which helps companies to improve their business practices, business premises and the local environment. The aim is to demonstrate that businesses can become more profitable if they take a more responsible attitude towards the environment and the local community.

  3.5  Yorkshire Forward currently funds a Green Business Parks manager, based at Groundwork Yorkshire and the Humber, and has provided a grant of £160,000 over four years, in order to develop eight Green Business Parks across the region. A steering group, consisting of Groundwork, Yorkshire Forward, the Environment Agency and regional business representatives, has been developing this model in the region. Groundwork hopes to develop this programme through further funding in the future, for a wider roll-out across Yorkshire and the Humber.

  3.6  Groundwork Wales has developed a Sustainable Business Parks programme, with Welsh Development Agency funding, working on local authority-owned estates to tackle issues and allow businesses to develop. These include security, waste management, training and managing sensitive habitats and landscapes.

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS

  4.1  Groundwork supports the introduction of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), currently being considered in Parliament as part of the Local Government Bill, and is participating as a partner on the National Steering Body for the 23 pilot schemes being administered by the Association of Town Centre Management. The project is also being supported by ODPM, English Partnerships, Countryside Agency, ENCAMS, CABE, the British Property Federation, British Council for Shopping Centres, British Retail Consortium, and an alliance of leading private sector players including Boots, Prudential, and Grosvenor Estates.

  4.2  BIDs will deliver specific, measurable benefits to businesses, which could include measures such as rapid response to remove graffiti and litter, investment in the visual appearance of an area, such as planting trees, installation of CCTV cameras, or even local training and employment schemes. These are all initiatives used by Groundwork in a variety of projects, and we welcome the Government's recognition of the benefits they can bring.

A JOINED-UP APPROACH TO SKILLS, LEARNING AND ENTERPRISE

  5.1  If Regional Development Agencies are to fulfill their statutory purpose of contributing to sustainable development then their business support activities should prioritise support for green businesses. This does not just mean assisting existing businesses meet their environmental commitments but encouraging new environmentally focused industries such as recycling and waste minimisation, clean energy and green technology, environmental protection and tourism, sustainable agriculture. This in turn, should be linked with regional employment strategies, utilising training schemes such as New Deal, Intermediate Labour Markets and the new Step-Up programme to build a skills base in these new green industries.

  5.2  Groundwork's Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) programmes are targeted in areas of high need creating waged, longer-term programmes than the basic New Deal model and specifically designed to provide additional personal development opportunities and basic skills training. The Transco Green Futures programme, launched by the Prime Minister in June 1999, was developed jointly by Groundwork and the Lattice Foundation. Through the programme, the partners developed Transco Routes to Work, a delivery model aimed at helping ILM participants gain work experience and jobs in the gas industry. Guidelines were developed to help placement providers tailor training placements to provide the skills required to take up GD1 operative positions within Transco or its supplies companies providing greater incentives for clients and helping to meet existing skills shortages.

  5.3  Developing an understanding of sustainable development should be a key objective for all RDAs. These initiatives should be linked with lifelong learning so that sustainability is seen as a goal by everyone at home and at work. The recently launched Foundation Certificate in Sustainable Development was developed in partnership between Groundwork, the Environment Agency, the Black Environment Network and NCFE, one of the country's fastest-growing awarding bodies. It is the first ever qualification in SD to be approved by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and admitted onto the National Qualifications Framework.

CONCLUSION

  6.1  In order to reduce regional disparities, there is a clear need to link prosperity with social and environmental justice. Groundwork believes that RDA agendas need to tie in with the Government's initiatives to tackle neighbourhood renewal, community cohesion and citizenship rather than simply concentrating on attracting business investment.

  6.2  The Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy identified that improving skills and generating local enterprise were key ingredients in reversing neighbourhood decline and boosting prosperity. Groundwork would add to this the need to deliver regeneration within the context of sustainable development—prioritising green enterprise opportunities and making links with skills development and practical environmental improvements.

  6.3  There is a real danger that the economy continues to develop so that regions within easy travel distance of London feed off the capital's wealth at the expense of more outlying areas. A more sustainable and equitable approach would be to prioritise support for existing business, especially SMEs, and provide a skilled local labour force within safe and attractive communities.

  6.4  A vision of sustainable communities is predicted to be at the heart of the ODPM's forthcoming Communities Plan, and this should inform the strategies of other Government Departments, such as DTI and DfES.