This document provides an interim report on research conducted to understand the training and education needs of parish and town councils in Devon, England in the context of achieving sustainable communities. Some key preliminary findings from an initial survey of parish and town councillors are: 1) There is an overwhelming feeling among members that additional training and education is needed and that the nature of this training is diverse but special skills are required. 2) Existing training does not adequately meet current issues facing local communities. 3) Members would be willing to travel for training and there is confusion over what constitutes sustainable communities and how to achieve them. 4) There is a lack of awareness of mechanisms for local governance that could contribute to sustainable

1. 2008 ISSN: 2041- 6741
Promoting Sustainable
Communities Vol 1, 1
Understanding Town
and Parish Council
Needs for a
Sustainable Devon
Interim Report
By
Gregory Borne

2. Understanding Town and Parish Council Needs
for a Sustainable Devon
Interim Report
November 2008
By
Gregory Borne
2

3. Contents
Acknowledgements 5
Executive Summary 6
Introduction 8
Background to Research 8
Aims 8
Methodology 9
Preliminary Results 10
Demographic Information 10
Training and Education 17
Access to Training 19
Community 21
Mechanisms for Achieving Sustainable Communities 23
Partnership 23
Responding to Risk 25
Solutions for the Future 28
Conclusion 30
Future Directions 31
References 32
Index of Figures
Figure 1: Gender 10
Figure 2: Age 11
Figure 3: Occupation 11
Figure 4: Education 12
Figure 5: Role in parish/town 12
Figure 6: Motivation 13
Figure 7: Effect on parish/town 13
Figure 8: Awareness of role within parish/town council 14
Figure 9: Continue to be a member of the parish/town
council in the future 14
Figure 10: Residence in parish/town 15
Figure 11: Settlement type 15
Figure 12: Priority issues 16
Figure 13: Education and training needs 17
Figure 14: Willing to participate in training 17
Figure 15: Require special skills 18
Figure 16: Primary skills 18
Figure 17: Fund own training 19
Figure 18: Travel for training 20
Figure 19: Distance to training 20
Figure 20: Training delivery 21
Figure 21: Community 22
Figure 22: Community focus 22
Figure 23: Community area 23
Figure 24: Work in partnership 23
Figure 25: Partners 24
Figure 26: Awareness of sustainability mechanisms 25
Figure 27: Awareness of sustainable development related issues 26
Figure 28: Heard of global warming? 27
3

4. Figure 29: Parishes carbon footprint 27
Figure 30: Causes of global warming 28
Figure 31: Heard of sustainable development? 29
Figure 32: Basic elements of sustainable development 29
Figure 33: What is sustainable development? 30
4

5. Acknowledgements
The author of the interim report ‘Understanding Town and Parish Needs for a
Sustainable Devon’ would like to acknowledge the contribution of the following
people; the research team including Ian Sherriff, Helen May and Ruth
Watkins. Thanks also to Lesley Smith; Chair of the Devon Association of
Local Parishes for her co-operation and also to councillors and staff of the
many parish/town councils who took the time to participate in the research;
without their co-operation this work could not have taken place. Finally,
thanks to the South West Lifelong Learning Network (SWLLN) for
commissioning the work, particularly SWLLN Director Belinda Payne and
Curriculum Development and Vocational Practice Development Unit (CDVPU)
Strand Leader Nick Wiseman.
5

6. Executive Summary
This research aims to understand the education and training needs for parish
and town councils in the context of achieving sustainable communities. There
is a particular focus within the research on understanding these needs, not
just now but also in the future. As such, the following outlines the main
preliminary findings of the research. Results are presented in this report in
the context of ‘work in progress’, final results, conclusions and
recommendations are subject to the collection and analysis of all data.
Subsequent in-depth research is currently underway in order to gain a greater
understanding of the following findings:
Key Messages
• Based on the initial results there is an overwhelming feeling among
members of parish and town councils that additional training and
education is needed.
• Findings indicate that the nature of this education and training is
diverse, but that members of parish and town councils feel that there
are special skill sets needed to operate effectively within their parish.
• Existing training and education are not able to meet the current issues
confronting local communities.
• Members of parish/town councils would be willing to travel outside of
their parish area in order to receive additional training and education
• There is an overwhelming feeling that there is a need to encourage
sustainable communities ‘but’ there is confusion over the action that
should be taken.
• Following on from the above finding, whilst there is a high level of
consensus that achieving sustainable communities is important there is
confusion as to what sustainable communities and sustainable
development more generally entail.
• There is a general lack of awareness of the existing mechanisms that
could be employed in the local governance process that could
contribute towards the creation of sustainable communities.
• Partnership is essential for the effective running of town and parish
councils and the development of sustainable communities.
• There is concern over the effect of global risks such as global warming
upon local communities, but there is need for further and effective
communication of these issues. This is particularly the case between
the national and local levels of government
6

7. • In order for the development of policies that will enhance sustainability
at the community level, there needs to be a clear synergy between the
national, regional and local areas.
7

8. Understanding Town and Parish Needs for a Sustainable Devon
Introduction
This report will outline the main interim findings of recent research conducted
on behalf of the South West Lifelong Learning Network into the training and
educational needs for Devon parishes/town councils in order to create
sustainable communities. At this stage only a brief analysis of the data is
offered. Upon conclusion of the data collection stage of this work a full
analysis with associated recommendations will be available. This report is
organised in the following manner. Initially, a brief background to the research
will be provided, this will be followed by outlining the specific aims of the
project. Next, the methodology used in collecting the data will be briefly
discussed followed by the main findings of the survey. Conclusions will
reiterate the findings presented in the executive summary and also outline
action for the future.
Background to the Research
Rapid changes facilitated by processes of globalisation are fundamentally
altering governance structures worldwide (Beck 1999, 2006; Borne 2009a).
These processes are having profound effects on organisational structures
from the United Nations through to more localised public sector organisations.
Recent British Government reports (Leitch 2006; Lyons 2004; Stern 2007) as
well as more overarching governmental policy documents (CALG 2008;
DCLG 2006; HEFCE 2005; HMGOV 2005; ODPM 2003) are beginning to
translate these rapidly altering global processes into concrete political
imperatives. The changing context from within which public sector
organisations need to operate directly affect the types of skills, educational
needs and general competencies that are required to operate successfully
and efficiently.
Recognising the potential skills gap, the South West Lifelong Learning
Network has commissioned this project to create a resource upon which
members of parish and town councils can enhance their skills base in order to
respond to the aforementioned challenges.
Aims
The ultimate goal of this research is to provide the necessary base line
information which can contribute to the development of effective and
responsive training/education necessary to create sustainable communities.
The idea of sustainable communities has become an important topic at all
levels of government. It is a broadly defined idea that has formed under the
umbrella of the broader concept of sustainable development. The World
Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 defined sustainable
development as: ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’
8

9. (WCED 1987:8). This definition represents the foundation for an
understanding of sustainable communities. Within Great Britain the idea of
developing sustainable communities was most comprehensively addressed in
the Egan Review.
The Egan Review (2003) commissioned by the then Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister (ODPM) defines sustainable communities as communities that:
‘…Meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, their children and
other users, contribute to a high quality of life and provide opportunity and
choice. They achieve this in ways that make effective use of natural
resources, enhance the environment and promote social cohesion and
inclusion and strengthen economic prosperity’ (Egan 2003:7).
The review outlines the essential role that local authorities play in creating
sustainable communities, and local authority sustainable community plans are
identified as a positive outcome of this process. Whilst the review is primarily
concerned with up-skilling professional workers, the importance of access to,
and delivery of skills across communities is also seen to be of vital
importance. Parish/town councils are the closest level of government to their
communities and are therefore in a unique position to provide leadership and
advice on achieving sustainable communities. This project therefore aims to
understand not only what skills members of parish/town council’s feel they
need in order to create a sustainable community but also what members of
parish/town councils feel constitutes community itself.
Ultimately, this project aims to provide a foundation upon which training and
education can be developed through the extensive resource base of the
South West Lifelong Learning Network directly accessible by the closest level
of government to the community, parish and town councils.
Methodology
In order to achieve the above mentioned goals, the research is being
conducted using a sophisticated multi-methodological framework,
incorporating both primary and secondary evidence as well as qualitative and
quantitative data collection techniques. An initial search of the available
literature covered areas of theory (Beck 2006; Borne 2009a, 2009b), policy
(Coulson 1999; Davies 2008; Pearce and Ellwood 2002), practice and
implementation (Borne 2009c; Charnock 2007; Godfrey 2007; Fenwick and
Bailey 2007; Jones and Newman 2006; Owen 2002; Newman 2005; Toke
2005; Yarwood 2002). Particular attention was paid to current policy
documents and the changing ways in which parish/town councils are
expected to operate. This report presents results from the quantitative
component of the research which took the form of a survey.
The survey was dispatched to all Devon town and parish councils (where
contact details were available) in two mailings. Basic data and contact
information was provided by the Devon Association of Local Councils (DALC)
which formed the basis of the first mailing. Further information acquired from
the DALC website provided the relevant information for the second posting.
9

10. The research is being conducted in two phases. Phase One is based around
the aforementioned quantitative survey. Phase Two of the research will
involve conducting in-depth interviews with members of parish and town
councils. The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods will provide
a substantial and robust information source to assist in the development of
sustainable communities.
Preliminary Results
Whilst at this stage it is too early to ascertain accurate response rates, based
on the volume of returns, it is confidently estimated that over 60 per cent of
the parish/town councils that have received questionnaires have responded to
the survey, with this figure expected to rise. Based on the research to date,
the following will present some preliminary results of the most significant
findings. The results are ordered in the following manner. Initially, the basic
demographic information of respondents, as well as the relationship that
respondents have to their parish is presented. This is followed with a
presentation of results relating directly to education and training. The next
section examines the idea of community, particularly those elements of the
survey that relate directly to achieving a sustainable community. This is
followed by exploring how members of town and parish councils feel about
increasing global and local risks such as global warming. The final section
examines how respondents feel about overarching ideas for addressing these
issues, with a focus on sustainable development.
Demographic Information
Figure 1: Gender
Figure 1 indicates the gender distribution in the overall sample. There are
proportionally more male members, 60 per cent of parish councils, than there
are female councillors at 40 per cent.
10

11. Figure 2: Age
Figure 2 displays the age distribution of the respondents. The majority of
respondents were between 57 and 64; 20 per cent were between 49 and 56;
18 per cent were aged 65 to 72 and 10 per cent were aged 41 to 48.
Respondents indicated that only 6 per cent were between 33 and 40; 1 per
cent were between 26 and 32 and 0.5 per cent were between 18 and 25.
Figure 3: Occupation
Figure 3 dispays the occupational distribution of respondents. The highest
proportion of repondents indicated that they were retired. Following this the
strongest occupational category was professional at 32.5 per cent. Further
catagories are respectively; tradesman, 10 per cent, clerical/administrative, 8
per cent; manual workers, 4 per cent and housewife/husband at 3 per cent.
No respondents were either unemployed or students.
11

12. Figure 4: Education
Figure 4 displays the educational distribution of respondents. As is apparent
from the graph there is a relatively even spread of educational attainment
amongst councillors. The highest proportion of educational attainment at 21
per cent was ‘O’ Level/GCSE; 20 per cent indicated that they were graduates
achieving a degree level of education; 15 per cent had achieved ‘A’ level
qualifications; 13 per cent indicated that postgraduate qualifications had been
achieved; 12 per cent specified that they had non- conventional qualifications
and 12 per cent responded that they had qualifications designated as other.
Figure 5: Role in parish
Figure 5 illustrates that predominantly, 72 per cent respondents indicated that
they were councillors within local parish and town councils; 15.5 per cent
indicated that they were clerks, and 10 per cent responded that they were the
Chair of their parish or town council.
12

13. Figure 6: Motivation for becoming a member of the parish/town council
Respondents were asked to indicate what motivated them to become
parish/town councillors. As is evident from Figure 6, significantly, 87 per cent
indicated that they became parish councillors in order to improve the well-
being of their community; 1 per cent indicated that they became a parish
councillor in order to improve their social standing; 2 per cent indicated that
they became parish/town councillors because of an interest in politics; 10 per
cent said there were other reasons, and 0.5 per cent indicated that they didn’t
know why they became a parish/town councillor.
Figure 7: Effect on parish/town councils
Overall, members of parish/town councils felt that they had a positive effect on
their parish/town. The level of this effect varied significantly; only 16.5 per
cent felt that they had a very positive effect on their parish/town; 31 per cent
felt that they had a significantly positive effect on the their parish/town, and 35
per cent felt that they had quite a positive effect on their parish. A smaller
13

14. proportion felt that they had little effect on their parish, and 4 per cent felt that
they had no effect at all on their parish.
Figure 8: Awareness of role within parish/town council
Respondents were asked to indicate, on a scale of 1 to 5, if they felt they were
aware of what their role within the parish/town council would entail prior to
becoming a member. Members of town and parish councils indicated that 25
percent were very aware of the of what their role would entail; 25 per cent
indicated they were aware; 25 per cent also said that they were quite aware;
12.5 per cent said they had little awareness of what the role entailed, and 10
per cent said they had no awareness of the what the role entailed before
joining the parish/town councils.
Figure 9: Continue to be a member of the parish council in the future
Respondents were asked to indicate if they felt that they would continue to be
a member of the parish/town council in the future. As shown in Figure 9, the
majority of respondents, 73 per cent believed they would continue to be
14

15. parish/town councillors in the future; 5 per cent indicated they would not
continue to be parish councillors in the future and 20 per cent did not know
whether they would continue to be parish/town councillors.
Figure 10: Residence in parish
Figure 10 illustrates the length of time the respondents have resided in their
parish/town. At 49 per cent the majority of parish/town members indicated
they have lived in their parish/town for more than 20 years; 17 per cent
indicated they have lived in their parish/town between 6 and 10 years; 12 per
cent responded they have lived in their parish/town between 11 and 15 years;
11 per cent indicated they have resided in their parish between 1 and 5 years
and 8 per cent said that they have lived in their parish/town between 16 and
20 years.
Figure 11: Settlement type
Respondents were asked if they felt their parish/town was urban, rural or
mixed. As illustrated in Figure 11, the vast majority of town/parish council
15

16. members felt their parish/town was rural, at a response rate of 84 per cent.
Only 7 per cent felt that their parish was urban; 8 per cent indicated that their
parish was mixed and 1 per cent said that they did not know whether their
parish was urban or rural.
Figure 12: Priority issues
Respondents were asked to rank the following issues in order of importance
to them. 30 per cent indicated that health was most important to them; 28 per
cent indicated that the environment was most important to them. A total of 20
per cent indicated that crime was most important to them; 10 per cent said
that education was most important to them and 14 per cent said that social
welfare was most important to them.
16

17. Training and Education
The following section focuses on the main areas concerning the training
needs of members of parish/town councils. Parish/town councillors and clerks
were asked if they felt that they required special training to effectively operate
in their respective roles. They were asked if they would be willing to
participate in extra training and education.
Figure 13: Education and training needs
One of the primary goals of this research is to ascertain whether there is a
‘need’ for further education and training amongst members of town and parish
councils in Devon. Figure 13 illustrates the response rate with relation to
required training and education needs. As is evident from this graph, 75 per
cent of respondents felt that they required special training and educational
needs and 25 per cent said that they did not feel additional training and
education was needed.
Figure 14: Willing to participate in training
17

18. Respondents were asked if they felt that they would participate in additional
training and education if it was available. 68 per cent indicated that they
would be willing to participate in extra training and education; 18 per cent felt
that they would be unable to participate and 10 per cent said that they did not
know if they would participate in extra training and education.
Figure 15: Require special skills
Members of parish/town councils were asked to indicate whether they felt
‘special skills’ were required in order to effectively operate as a parish/town
member in the future. As shown in Figure 15, 70 per cent of respondents
indicated that ‘special skills’ were required in order to operate effectively as a
parish/town member. Only 24 per cent indicated that they felt ‘special skills’
were not required. 3 per cent indicated that they did not know if ‘special skills’
were required.
Figure 16: Primary skills
18

19. Respondents were asked to comment on whether they believed six core skills
were necessary to operate as a member of the parish/town council. Figure 16
illustrates the aggregate of responses. 83 per cent indicated that
communication skills were the most important in order to be a member of a
parish/town council. Interpersonal skills also scored highly at 62 per cent.
Leadership and management skills received medium percentage scores of 43
and 41 per cent respectively. At the lower percentage range, financial and
project management skills were scored at 37 and 33 per cent respectively.
The above establishes a clear demand for additional education and training.
The following will outline how members of parish councils would like to access
further training and education.
Access to Training
A number of questions in the survey were aimed to understand the various
dimensions of members of parish/town council’s access to training. This
included financial, geographical and course provision issues.
Figure 17: Fund own training
Respondents were asked to indicate whether they felt they would financially
contribute towards their own training. As illustrated in Figure 17; 65 per cent
said that would not be willing to pay for their own training; 15 per cent said
that they would be willing to pay for their own training; 14 per cent said that
they did not know if they would be prepared to fund their own training.
19

20. Figure 18: Travel for training
Respondents were asked if they would be prepared to travel outside of their
parish/town area for the additional training. As Figure 18 illustrates, 50 per
cent said they would be prepared to travel for the training, Only 16 per cent
said that they would not be prepared to travel for training and 5 per cent said
that they did not know whether they would travel for the training.
Figure 19: Distance to training
Respondents were asked to indicate how far they would be willing to travel in
order to receive additional education and training. Nearly half of the
respondents, 49 per cent, said they would be willing to travel more than 20
miles to receive their training/education; 11 per cent said that they would be
willing to travel between 16 and 20 miles; 8 per cent said that they would be
willing to travel between 11 and 15 miles; 4 per cent responded that they
would be willing to travel between 6 and 10 miles and 1 per cent said that they
would only be willing to travel between 1 and 5 miles.
20

21. Figure 20: Training delivery
In addition to understanding the nature of demand for education and training,
the survey identifies the preferred medium for providing education and
training. This also ascertains how the respondents feel they would like to
access the training. Figure 20 displays how members of parish/town councils
felt they would best like to receive additional skills. The majority of the
respondents, 56 per cent, indicated that they would like to receive education
and training through short courses. Following this, 40 per cent of the
respondents said that they would like to receive education and training in a
group environment; 27 per cent indicated that they would like to receive
education and training through the medium of the internet and 6 per cent said
that they would like to have one-to-one tuition.
Community
This section presents results from the part of the survey that examines
sustainable communities. Community is an emotive issue. Policy aimed at
achieving sustainable development and more specifically, sustainable
communities, is becoming increasingly sophisticated at incorporating the
complexities of the issues involved. With this said, however, there is still a
significant lack of understanding of the way that community is perceived and
understood. In the 21st Century the nature of community has changed
significantly with advancements in technology, particularly transportation and
the increasing speed of global communications. The following section
outlines results from the survey that accesses members of parish/town and
councils understanding of community.
21

22. Figure 21: Community
Figure 21 clearly demonstrates that the majority of respondents consider
themselves to be part of more than one community. A total of 57 per cent
consider themselves to be part of more than one community; 36 per cent
indicated that they were not part of more than one community and 5 per cent
said that their community was ‘other’.
Figure 22: Community focus
Respondents were asked to indicate what they felt was the focus of their
community. 61 per cent indicated that their community was focused on family
and friends; 37 per cent indicated that their community was based around
work; 29 per cent said that their community was based around hobbies and
6.3 per cent suggested that their community was based around the internet.
22

23. Figure 23: Community area
Respondents were asked to indicate what basic geographical areas they felt
their community occupied. 86 per cent said their community was based
around their local area; 24 per cent indicated that they are not geographically
defined and 7.3 per cent thought their community was nationwide. With the
issue of community explored within the context of the survey results, the next
section moves to present the results on questions asked that related to the
various mechanisms that exist for the creation of sustainable communities.
Mechanisms for Achieving Sustainable Communities
This section will present the interim results that pertain to the elements
identified as contributing towards sustainable communities. The first
overarching issue to be dealt with is the notion of partnership.
Partnership
Figure 24: Work in partnership
23

24. Partnership is often seen as an essential element to achieving sustainable
communities and more broadly, sustainable development. Respondents were
asked a number of questions relating to partnership. Initially, respondents
were asked if they felt that working in partnership was important. As
illustrated in Figure 24, an overwhelming majority of 90 per cent indicated
that partnership was important; 7 per cent said that partneship was not
important and 1 per cent said that they did not know if partnership was
important.
Figure 25: Partner
Respondents were asked to indicate what organsiations within the local
governance structure they felt it was important to work with. Figure 25
presents the aggregate results of these responses. The highest rated
partnership type was with district councils at 81 percent. Respondents
indicated that county councils should be included in partnership working, 73
per cent; 72 per cent said that other parishes should be partners; 45 per cent
indicated that the voluntary sector was important as a partner and 31 per cent
indicated that the private sector was important for partnership. National
government was seen as an important partner at 21 per cent and a unitary
authority at 11 per cent.
In conjunction with the overarching idea of partnership, a number of existing
mechanisms and information sources are available that are designed to
create sustainable communities. The following outlines the responses to
these mechanisms.
24

25. Figure 26: Awareness of sustainability mechanisms
Figure 26 presents the aggregate results of respondents who indicated
whether they were aware of a number of mechanisms that can be utilised for
creating sustainable communities. As expected, a high proportion, 60 per
cent were aware of the Quality Parish Scheme; 30 per cent were aware of
Local Area Agreements and 11 per cent were aware of Comprehensive Area
Agreements; 9 per cent had heard of the National Governments Act on Co2
document.
Responding to Risk
The debate surrounding the achievement of sustainable development and
sustainable communities is often preoccupied with the alleviation of increasing
global phenomena such as global warming. This is an issue that has both a
global and local relevance. In order that relevant and responsive courses can
be developed for members of parish/town councils, as well as broader public
sector organisation, understanding how respondents feel about these issues
is paramount. The following section will illustrate the results from part of the
survey that refers to these issues.
25

26. Figure 27: Awareness of sustainable development related issues
Respondents were asked if they were aware of a number of issues that
related to sustainable development. 98 per cent indicated that they had heard
of climate change; 85.5 per cent said that they had heard of the ozone layer
and 43.5 per cent said that they had heard of Agenda 21. A total of 86 per
cent said that they had heard of biodiversity; 98 per cent had heard of global
warming and 96 per cent had heard of the Carbon Footprint.
Parish and town councils are increasingly responsible for effectively managing
complex resources and responding to global issues that affect local
community life. One such issue that has increased in importance in the past
decade is global warming. International, national and local government
organisations are increasingly being called upon in partnership with non-
governmental organisations to help effectively manage the current and
potential consequences of global warming. Respondents were therefore
asked to indicate how they felt about this issue.
26

27. Figure 28: Heard of global warming
As displayed in Figure 28, a total of 98 per cent of respondents indicated they
had heard of global warming; 1 per cent indicated that they had not heard of
the term and 1 per cent indicated that they did not know.
Figure 29: Parishes carbon footprint
Following the global warming line of enquiry, the respondents were asked to
indicate whether they felt that they were concerned about their parishes
carbon footprint. As is evident from Figure 29, the majority of respondents
said that they were concerned about their parishes/towns carbon footprint at
54 per cent; 35 per cent said they were not concerned, and 7 per cent said
that they did not know.
27

28. Figure 30: Causes of global warming
Respondents were asked to indicate which of four statements relating to
global warming they felt was most appropriate. Figure 30 shows that the
majority of the members of town and parish councils indicated global warming
was made worse by humans; 9.5 per cent felt that global warming was all
humanities fault; 8 per cent indicated that global warming was attributable to
natural causes and 3 per cent indicated that global warming was not actually
happening.
Solutions for the Future
As is clear throughout this report, there is a focus within this research on the
creation of sustainable communities and more broadly, sustainable
development. By focusing on this issue, education and training needs can be
created that respond not only to current needs but also future demands. The
British Government has indicated that parish and town councils will be at the
vanguard of encouraging a sustainable development at the local level.
28

29. Figure 31: Heard of sustainable development
Considering the significance of the term sustainable development, Figure 31
shows that 68 per cent of the respondents indicated that they had heard of
sustainable development and 22 per cent said that they had not heard of the
term sustainable development.
Figure 32: Basic elements of sustainable development
Sustainable Development is often broken down into three elements known as
the three pillars or ‘the triple bottom line’. These three elements are society,
environment and economy. Members of parish/town councils were asked to
indicate which one of these pillars of sustainable development they felt the
concept referred to. Figure 32 presents the aggregate results of this question.
The majority of respondents, 68 per cent, said that sustainable development
referred to the environment; 44 per cent said that it refered to the economy,
and 42 per cent said that it referred to society.
29

30. Figure 33: What is sustainable development?
Respondents were asked to indicate on a scale of 1 to 5 to what extent they
agreed or disagreed with four statements that offered interpretations of
sustainable development. Figure 33 presents the aggregate of those who
said that they agreed and strongly agreed to these statements.
Predominantly, 77 per cent members of parish/town councils indicated that
sustainable development was a way of preserving natural resources. Over
half of respondents at 51 per cent, agreed and strongly agreed that
sustainable development was little more than jargon to make governments
sound greener; 37 per cent agreed and strongly agreed that sustainable
development was more important than money, and 24 per cent agreed and
strongly agreed that sustainable development meant protecting the
environment at all costs.
Conclusions
The executive summary at the outset or this report outlined the overall
findings of this preliminary report. The following will briefly reiterate the main
findings at this point. Most significant to the overall aim of this project, it is
clear that the members of the town and parish councils felt that additional
training and education is necessary. Respondents felt that there is a special
skill set that is required in order to operate effectively as a parish/town
councillor. There is a firm willingness within parish/town councils to
participate in additional education and training if provided. With regard to
achieving sustainable communities, respondents felt that this is a desirable
goal but there is confusion about what actions should be taken to achieve this
goal. In line with this finding, there is a general lack of awareness of the
existing mechanisms that could be employed in the local governance process
that could contribute towards the creation of sustainable communities. With
this in mind, there is an overwhelming feeling that working in partnership is an
important part of parish and town council operations.
30

31. As outlined in the introduction to this report, the project aims to provide
information that will help in the development of training and education that will
equip members of town and parish councils with the relevant skills to handle
future issues. There was a particular focus within the survey on global
warming and a number of environmental issues. What was evident is that
members of town and parish councils are concerned about the effects of
global warming upon their communities. In order for the development of
polices that will encourage sustainability at the community level there needs
to be a clear synergy between the national, regional and local areas. The
development and delivery of appropriate and up-to-date training and
education programmes will take substantial steps in this direction.
In sum, from these initial results two primary conclusions can be drawn:
• Firstly, that there is a considerable need for additional training and
education on a number of issues. Councillors and clerks have indicated
that special skills are required and that they are willing to commit time
to developing these skills.
• Secondly, whilst respondents are aware of the terminology of
sustainable development and sustainability, there is ambiguity
concerning the meaning and relevance of these issues. Moreover, the
mechanisms put in place to achieve the practical task of creating
sustainable communities need to be more effectively communicated.
Future Directions
This work is ongoing. Currently, data is still being received from the survey
which will influence the results presented here. The survey has unlocked
some interesting and exciting issues, which by the very nature of a survey can
only be accessed at the surface level. The second phase of this project will
involve conducting a significant number of in-depth interviews with members
of parish/town councils who have volunteered to assist us with this study.
Results from these interviews, in conjunction with the survey data, will provide
a significant resource for the development of education and training
programmes that are capable of responding to the challenges of the 21st
Century.
31

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