Sustainable Community?

On February the 5th 2003 the deputy prime minister set up the sustainable communities project, this tried to create sustainable communities in rural and urban areas. The programmes action aims to focus the attention and co-ordinate the efforts of all levels of Government and stakeholders in bringing about development that meets the economic, social and environmental needs of future generations as well as succeeding now.



In this blog i am going to look at my area back home and how it resembles a sustainable community. Farnham Common in Buckinghamshire is just north of Slough and south of Beaconsfield, i will look closely at its super output area and see whether it resembles a sustainable community.



My home is in the super output area of South Bucks 004B, this area includes the main high street of the village with several shops on, it next to the national park of Burnham Beeches, and has a wide range of houses, from terraced estates to larger detached houses. Lots of development has taken place in the last 2-3 years, new shops have developed and new housing developments have been put up. There has also been lots of changes in Burnham Beeches.



Farnham Common is a large village, this means it is not the closest social community, many people commute to nearby towns, or London which is only around 30mins drive away. Looking from a personally view a lot of my local friends parents either commute to Slough or London to work. Most of the people living in the super output area are either elderly or families, one observation from living in the area is that families can be more socially active as the children make friends at school and the parents know each other. More residential building are being developed in the heart of the village, this could lead to an increase in the commuter population. Commute villages are not always highly sustainable, although the economy of the place will be high because of more high profile jobs, there is also a poor social aspect with people seeing less of neighbours.

The A355 runs through the village and super output area, this runs between to towns of Slough and Beaconsfield, there can be lots of traffic which is not good for the environment and can also make the high street dangerous for pedestrians. Lots of development has taken place along the main road. Recent projects involved small supermarkets basing shops in Farnham Common. Sainsbury's and Tesco have both based local stores in the area. This has had positive and negative effects on the community. The opening of these news stores did bring money into the area and the local government has also made a new housing development near to the main road, however it has also forced local shops to close or change business. The Stars newsagents closed, taking away some social aspect of local residents life and also meaning some young people lost their job of delivering local papers. A local butchers Andrews was loosing money and found it more profitable to change into a Fish+Chip shop, this could show development of the small village into more of a small town community.

Burnham Beeches is very local to the super area output and has recently been upgraded to a national park status, the woodland gets over 500,000 visitors a year. This many visitors can boost the local economy and raise awareness of the area to people who live slightly further away from the area. Being a national park also shows that the area is preserving the environment and many environmental projects take place in Burnham Beeches which has a huge species variety. Their are also volunteer programmes in Burnham Beeches, this helps to local population to be educated about sustainability and the environment.

Is South Bucks 004B a sustainable community?
Looking overall at all of the different features and changes that have taken place my local super area output we can see whether it could be considered a sustainable community. There has been lots of local development, shops in the village are being updated, this shows that future generations will have a better choice of shops, it has also boosted the economy. However there are also set backs with many traditional stores closing down due to the high profile competition. South Bucks 004B is also next to Burnham Beeches, this enables local people to interact closely with the environment and also be educated well about sustainable development. It also attracts a large number of visitors which helps raise awareness of the area and boost the economy. Socially the area is fairly strong with families knowing each other and talking, however there is a large number of commuters which can have a negative effect on the area.

Overall i think South Bucks 004B is a sustainable community but there are still steps that can be taken to improve it further and enhance the opportunity for future generations in the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable life.

Sustainable Crunch?

Sustainable thinking means that people will have to provide for their current needs and think about the future. With the credit crunch now right on top of people, everyone needs to start thinking about cutting back on their spending to have money for the future, this can surely only have a positive effect on sustainable issues? In this blog i am going to briefly explore some of the positives and negatives of the credit crunch.

Travel
Cars have always been the enemy of many environmental issues, but for most people they are a helpful and flexible mode of transport in a highly active economic climate. However cars are expensive to run, and with the credit crunch hitting people this is becoming more expensive. People are now ditching the car in an attempt to save more money using different modes of transport. While this is a positive step for the environment with less cars on the road and the pollution rates decreasing there is also a negative side. Other transport methods are less flexible than the car and mean people need to extend their commuting time; this could lead us to an even more socially broken society? With people being caught up in problems and late for work could also lead to people losing their jobs, which in the current financial climate is not something many families can afford to have happen and could have devastating consequences.

Home spending
Electric, gas and waters bills are some of the kind of bills which people pay, and cutting these bills down can be a challenge but also a necessity. One simple way of doing this is switching off the light or using lower energy light bulbs, can not only save people money but also help the environment with less electricity being produced and less environmentally harmful methods being used. Recycling is also an issue in the household, the credit crunch is having a positive and negative effect on this issue. Some councils are giving out fines for not recycling rubbish properly and no matter what the economic climate few people want to pay a fine. There could also be a negative effect however with people not wanting to recycle and not finding the time in their busy and hectic lifestyle driven by earning money and keeping a job.

Unemployment
This may not seem as though it has much to do with sustainability but it does, earning money provides families with money and is part of helping develop for people in the future. Lots of people are becoming unemployed as a result of the credit crunch; some companies cannot afford to employ as many people as they are and have to cut back. Jobs are being lost everywhere around the country and it’s not just have effect directly on these people but also the country as a whole is suffering.

So is this credit crunch good?
While the credit crunch is here sustainable development is being brought to everyone’s minds, people are learning more about how to develop and save for the future but without lowering their own standard of living. However is it too little too late? Should we have already been doing this before the credit crunch, should sustainable development not be a new barely explored area but one with a vast knowledge base already?
While the credit crunch is here the UK’s economy was already suffering a decrease in industry, could this mean there is even less. During this period there are positives for our already fragile and broken environment but sustainable development isn’t just about saving the environment, it’s about still being able to develop and preserving the good for the future. The world shouldn’t need a recession to push this into people’s minds and to save the environment, ultimately we probably should have already been doing it.



With thanks
- http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/#
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2007/creditcrunch/default.stm
- The brain of Freddy Try.

Traffic Survey

On the 22nd January we conducted a traffic survey of the number of people entering the University Park Campus Car Park, between 11:00 - 12:00. Before, on the 15th, we discussed, as a class group, the methods we would be using. The method we chose to use was to count both the number of cars and the number of passengers in each. To make sure the survey could last most of the day, data was recorded between 8:00am until 4:30pm. Each group's session lasted one hour, with half an hour break inbetween each group. The group also carried out a questionaire to collect students thoughts about sustainable methods of transport

We found that more people came into the car park closer to 12:00, this could have been because they had lectures which started at 12:00. Before we carried out the survey we thought that it would be busier closer to midday.

If we did the data collection again, we would have made each group record data for an hour and a half. This would mean there would not be half an hour gaps in the overall data collection. Also, we would have allocated better groups so that there were fair numbers as we only had two group members, so we were limited as to how many questionnaires we could ask.

By Josh and Freddy.