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The Vision
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THE VISION - OUR FUTURE |
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The
plan’s vision is the development of a "sustainable
community" in the North East – that is, one which meets the
needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
This will embrace the social and cultural identity of the North East in a way that improves its economic competitiveness, and delivers prosperity and a high quality of life for everyone within a secure and well-managed environment. Achieving this will be based firmly on three principles:
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AIMS |
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Responsible management of our natural, built and community resources Aim 1. Minimise the use of non-renewable resources and use renewable resources within their carrying capacity, minimising waste. Aim 2. Work with nature, encouraging diversity and minimising harmful environmental impact. Aim 3. Foster quality and the unique cultural identity of the North East.
Fairness in allocation of resources Aim 4. Optimise the diversity of opportunity for and fair access to health, security and prosperity. Aim 5. Recognise the interdependence of communities, each at its own scale, and the part each has to play. Aim 6. Satisfy the needs of a competitive economy and viable community before individual wants.
Benefit of future generations Aim 7. Give long-term and global cumulative effects greater weighting than purely short-term and local effects. Aim 8. Apply the precautionary principle. Aim 9. Deal with all of the above together as a whole on behalf of everyone. |
1.14 The Aims outlined on this page are the methods by which we intend to work towards realising the plan’s vision for the North East. A more detailed framework is contained in the Addendum to the Report of Survey, which shows how these aims are applied to individual themes like "Working in the North East", "Living in the North East" and others in order to generate practical objectives on the ground.
1.15 Some of these objectives will need to be pursued in partnership with other plans and strategies, such as the housing plan or the local transport strategies. The particular role of the structure plan is to set the land use context within which all these plans operate. Thus it is the land use objectives emerging from this framework which form the basis of the structure plan strategy, and which are set out in the next chapter.
1.16 The plan’s vision and strategy are firmly based on the concept of sustainability. The most well-known definition of sustainability was given by Brundtland in 1987 as: "Development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The meaning of the words "sustainable", "sustainability", "sustainable development" and "sustainable community" are used throughout the plan with this definition in mind.
1.17 The concept of a sustainable community forms the heart of the vision. In this case, the word "community" is used inclusively to mean the whole of the North East, and to imply the role played by the North East in the greater community beyond. This notion is expanded in Aim 9, which sums up the plan’s holistic approach. The rest of the statement under Our Future and the Aims further defines the concept of the sustainable community.
1.18 This vision represents a radical change in the way the North East operates. It will not be achieved without new ways of thinking as well as acting, some of which it will take time to adjust to. Its achievement can thus only be managed in stages. The strategy that follows represents the first of these stages.
