2030 Project: Building the Future We Want

Thanks to the 2030 Vision Survey, we now have a much clearer idea of how people want our community to be by 2030. The degree of consensus around many of the ideas we tested out in the survey was striking; people really do want to create a happier, healthier and much more sustainable future for Steyning, Bramber and Upper Beeding.

The vision emerging from the Survey provides an ambitious set of goals to aim for with the 2030 Project. The challenge now is to make a plan for how we can get there.



Making a start:
There is no time to lose in getting on top of the looming environmental and climate crisis. As Sir David Attenborough recently put it, ‘It may sound frightening, but the scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies.’

We’ve made a start:
A series of four Action Groups have been set up, covering:
•    Transport.
•    Energy & Housing.
•    Biodiversity.
•    Recycling and the Green Consumer Agenda.

The diagram above illustrates the challenge the Groups will face. It shows the seven initial ideas on the table for the Biodiversity Action Group, and how they scored in the survey. While most people agree these are all good ideas, none of them can be ‘magicked’ into becoming a reality just like that.

Each one will begin by studying the results of the survey. Then the task is to prioritise which ideas to tackle first and come up with a series of concrete action plans.

That means the Biodiversity Group will need to reach out to a whole range of other organisations to build the partnerships needed to really make things happen:

Our Parish and District Councils will be an important starting point.

Local farmers and landowners will be critical too, especially for any of the more ambitious ideas like wildlife corridors. We are looking forward to teaming up with some of the dynamic environmental and wildlife groups in our community, like Steyning for Trees, the Downland Scheme, Bramber Brooks Nature Reserve and the Community Orchard. And we’ll be looking to engage the general public, too, especially our many enthusiastic gardeners and allotment holders.

The same collaborative ethos will apply to the other Action Groups. One thing is for sure, the 2030 Project will only succeed if it is a combined effort!