Kirklees:
The application of an external and internal audit programme
Kirklees:
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| Country: | a) Western Europe | ,b) United Kingdom |
| Language: | |
| Type: | Project, Concept, 1 |
| Area: | City/Town, 100,000 - 1 mill. |
| Actors: | Local government |
| Funding: | Local government, Regional government, Economic Sector |
| Topics: | Information and public participation |
| Objectives: | Improve access to information |
| Improve intersectoral cooperation | |
| Increase public awareness | |
| Instruments: | Demonstration and pilot project |
| Eco audit / Environm. Impact Assessment | |
| Integrated planning approach | |
| Local government structure / organisation |
The City of Kirklees was the first UK local authority to undertake a State of the Environment Report. As this report can be regarded as the start of external auditing, the city also developed a number of actions concerning internal audits. The core of the eco-auditing initiatives in Kirklees are the Environmental Action Plans (EAPs) and the rolling audits. A comprehensive programme of departmental EAPs has already taken place and is documenting and evaluating the environmental conditions and initiatives.
The Kirklees case is significant for the wide range of initiatives whose aims are:
Kirklees was the first local authority in Britain to produce a State of the Environment Report that can be characterised as an external audit. It was initiated for mainly two reasons: firstly, there was a very strong political commitment to environmental work from the leader of the Council. Secondly, Friends of the Earth (FOE) were looking for a pilot authority to take on board their Environmental Charter for Local Government. The Council adopted the Friends of the Earth Charter which makes recommendations for local authorities to improve their environmental performance. Remarkably, Kirklees District Council did not suffer particularly outstanding or unique environmental problems, but quite common problems like industrial air and water pollution, traffic exhaust emissions, derelict land, waste management problems.
The FOE Charter sets out 193 recommendations for action. These aim to promote conservation and the sustainable use of resources, to minimise pollution, both from the authority´s own activities and through influence over others. One of the suggested implementation mechanisms is a regular environmental audit. Following the agreement to work with FOE, a Working Group of Officers was set up and as a result the first really comprehensive environmental status report to be undertaken by a UK local authority was published in 1989. This 184-page „State of Environment Report“ provided baseline information about the condition of the physical environment in Kirklees (air, water, waste, energy, recycling, noise, agriculture etc.). It was also intended to be used to express local concerns and objectives to a national and even European audience. Drawing on these findings a Kirklees Charter for the Environment was produced in 1990.
The decision to adopt the FOE charter, together with the production of the State of the Environment and Kirklees charter reports led to the realisation that an environmental co-ordinator in a special unit was needed. In 1991 the Kirklees Environment Unit was set up to be a strategic and policy-making service with a corporate remit. Its role was to develop, advise on, and co-ordinate an environmental strategy. The Ecological Strategy was produced in January 1992 to provide a more comprehensive framework for environmental action. It covered energy, transport, health, raising environmental awareness, the built environment and the natural environment.
In the summer of 1993 the preparation of the second State of the Environment Report (SOTER II) started. This report embraces a wide range of environmental issues and is divided into four sections:
In addition, a key feature of SOTER II is the presentation of the results of a detailed public opinion survey of environmental attitudes in Kirklees. Questionnaires were sent out to one thousand randomly-selected households in the district. These recommendations were brought together with others to form the Kirklees Environmental Action Programme. This Programme contains environmental initiatives and auditing for around 40 Council services, i.e. the internal auditing.
Implementation of eco-auditing is concentrating on the following activities:
Kirklees has been developing the use of a computer-based Geographical Information System (GIS) to store and analyse environmental information. This enables details of pollution, traffic levels, land use and habitats to be interrelated. The computer system is used by the Council to monitor its own environmental policies as over 70 per cent of local authority information relates to maps. GIS also serves as an information resource for the public by installation of means of computers in libraries and council offices. Here the public has access to environmental information about their own local area with the text of SOTER. GIS also allows more in-depth investigation of the information such as numbers of people within walking distance of public transport. Two GIS systems are now in operation in the Environment Unit (SPANS GIS and ARC/INFO) which provide tools for modelling environmental information and producing high quality maps.
Another monitoring project is the Integrated System for Implementing Sustainability (ISIS), a European project funded by the EU LIFE programme. Its task is to develop a model for clarifying and measuring the sustainability of existing and proposed local transport and land use planning choices. It is expected that the model will be capable of being applied in any European setting, particularly in urban and mixed urban / rural areas. The aim is to predict the key environmental effects of a range of alternative transport and land use scenarios for the year 2012. The computer software being developed for this project combines databases, GIS systems and other commercially available environmental modelling programmes to calculate and to map sustainability indices across the area covered or even for individual streets.
While SOTER is an example of an external audit, the internal audits by Environmental Action Programmes (EAPs) deal with the authority´s own environmental performance. The main objective of EAPs is to convert the Council´s general environmental policies into ´Service by Service´ action. These programmes are prepared by each of the 38 service departments. Each department sets out its commitments for environmental improvement in a series of measurable action points. These initiatives must come from the departments themselves. The Environment Unit co-ordinates the EAP project and supports the departments by producing a summary for each service department of the ideas for action points. Initially, the Unit was to carry out the internal audit of each service. But due to time and resource constraints within the Unit, this task had to be delegated to the departments.
Therefore, at the beginning of the project, the Environment Unit organised one-to-one meetings with the staff from each department to give them advice concerning the formulation of each EAP. It was important that each EAP included details on the officer responsible for the action points, on the environmental and financial benefits, and on the yearly targets for the following three years. In addition, each service department was to submit its EAP to the relevant committee and circulate copies to each member of staff in the Service area. In this way, other departments could get inspiration for their own EAP. The EAP sets the target against which the department´s activities are measured.
The EAPs were regarded as the basis for a three-year rolling audit. In general, the internal audit for each department provides opportunities
The EAPs and the audits form the basis of a corporate environmental management system for Kirklees Metropolitan Council. It is expected that it will encourage greater co-ordination of efforts in the different departments.
Beside the departmental auditings, a considerable number of further initiatives have taken place, e.g.:
a) The Green Workplace Guide: This guide was produced by the Environmental Unit for the administrative and purchasing staff within the Council, taking ideas from the FOE Charter and the Kirklees Environment Strategy. It was also an important instrument for the Service departments in drawing up their EAPs. The guide provides policy and advice on green purchasing and covers aspects like recycling, energy savings, paper products, furniture, chemicals, vehicles etc. It also offers a contact point for further information. It has already helped to build up an awareness of the importance of green purchasing.
b) Environmental Awareness Training: In 1993 a corporate-wide course on environmental awareness was run. This consisted of three training sessions, involving 34 staff from a range of service departments.
c) The Green Business Group and Guide: In 1992 the Council asked an environmental consultancy to carry out a research project on how local firms can be encouraged to introduce environmental auditing and management. The project was sponsored by the Economic Development Unit and as a result of it, the Kirklees Green Business Group was formed and the Green Business Guide was produced. This group can be regarded as a forum to discuss and implement best practice (e.g. the publishing of a „best practice“ guide for.business).
d) Public Environmental Education and Information:
A crucial factor of the success of the auditing process was the establishment of the Environment Unit with its cross-service or „corporate“ role within the Council. This Unit was able to provide other departments with a useful service and gain greater credibility. Another essential key factor was the involvement of the Friends of the Earth. This organisation put the environment issue forward with a wide range of proposals.
By means of the EAPs progress and implementation of environmental initiatives is documented and monitored. The Unit can co-ordinate these efforts in a more efficient way while giving guidance on the contents. On the side of the departments, ideas and initiatives can be developed. However, some deadlines for the EAPs could not be met by the departments and the progress slowed down occasionally.
The auditing process is also seen to have important impacts on the resource-allocation process and might develop as a bargaining point. In this way, it can shift or reallocate resources in favour of certain environmental activities.
The administration of the Metropolitan District Council is closely connected to an Executive Board (which consists of the Chief Executive and Executive Directors) and below this are five Executive Boards. These cover the following areas: Corporate and Competitive Services, Corporate Resources, Environment and Development Services, Education and Leisure, and Personal Services. Each Executive Board covers a number of Council „Service“ groupings. For example, the Environment and Development Services Board covers, amongst other services, the Building Control, Economic Development and Planning Environmental Services, and Highways departments and the Environment Unit. Each service department reports to a (political) committee which must ratify decisions before they can be implemented.
The Environment Unit is a corporate, central resource unit for developing and co-ordinating the authority´s policy on the environment. It initiates and co-ordinates environmental activities throughout the organisation. It usually reports to the Environment Committee, although it may also report to other committees such as that dealing with Economic Development. Major items have to go through the Executive Board and are then passed on to the Policy Board for decision. The Environment Unit is relatively small, with a staff of just six. An additional three staff are located in the Unit but focus exclusively on the ISIS project.
The Unit´s key areas of work include
The Unit´s main area of work at the moment is the development of a local strategy for sustainability, Kirklees Agenda 21. In addition, the Environmental Services department covers the more traditional service areas of environmental protection, public health and waste, and this is much larger, with a staff complement of around one hundred.
From its overall budget of around £ 277 million, Kirklees Council allocates budgets for major strategic initiatives. For the financial year 1996/97, £ 250,00 has been awarded to the Kirklees Environment Budget that is administered by the Environment Unit. This money is allocated three times a year to environmental projects in three main categories:
The budget enables work to be undertaken in the priority areas of energy conservation, sustainable transport, health raising awareness and the built and natural environment. It supports innovative work which would not otherwise be funded, together with strategic environmental projects which do not fit neatly into any one service delivery area. In addition, over 20 local groups received funding each year for tree planting, landscaping, working with children to raise awareness, and developing partnerships with the local community. By its actions, it also attracts external fundings from other sources such as the Countryside Commission, various trusts and local businesses.
Pearce, Barry 1995: „The Kirklees Case Study“, in: The Sustainable City - Urban Eco-Auditing and Local Authorities in Europe, Part one, Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, p.93-113
Kirklees Agenda 21: Towards a better quality of life, information folder
| Name | : | Webber |
| Firstname | : | Philip, Dr. |
| Telefon | : | 0044 / 1484 / 223568 |
| Telefax | : | 0044 / 1484 / 223576 |
| Address | : | Head of Environment Unit |
| Environment Unit | ||
| 23 Estate Buildings | ||
| Railway Street | ||
| Huddersfield HD1 1 JY | ||
| England | ||
Kirklees is a Metropolitan District situated in the northern part of Central Britain, some 200 miles north of London, and covers approximately 409 km2 in all. It includes two large towns, Huddersfield and Dewsbury, together with surrounding countryside. Huddersfield is the larger of the two urban areas, with a population of around 120,000. Dewsbury has around 50,000 inhabitants. The District lies between the Pennine Hills to the west, the Peak District National Park to the south and the Yorkshire conurbation to the east and has a total population of around 380,000 people.
Like many of the neighbouring towns and cities, Huddersfield and its surrounding area developed as a centre for textile manufacturing (especially woollens) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As its peak there were over 500 textile mills. Associated chemical industries (e.g. mothproofing) and related engineering industries also formed part of the economic base. Over recent years, the textile and engineering base has declined, although manufacturing still makes up a large percentage of employment (35%) and, meanwhile, the service and retail sectors have expanded.
Project was added at 23.01.1997
Project was changed at 02.07.1997