The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

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The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide 5.2 Creating Effective Planning Linkages Effective and appropriate organizational structures are the first precondition for successful implementation of an Action Plan. However, an Action Plan can only provide direction to the municipality’s most fundamental decisions—infrastructure investment, budgeting, land-use controls, and development approvals—if it is linked with its legal or “statutory” planning processes. These statutory processes include annual budgeting processes, preparation of municipal development plans, general land-use plan reviews, and capital/infrastructure planning processes. Create a formal linkage between the Action Plan and the statutory planning processes of the municipality—budgeting, land-use planning, development planning, etc. Ideally, linkages with statutory processes will have been established at the early stages of the planning effort. The best time to undertake a sustainable development planning process is concurrent with, or preceding, the deadlines for statutory planning. For example, in the case of Johnstone Shire, Australia, (Case # 4) the sustainable development planning process had direct linkages with the Town Planning Review process and the development of a Corporate Plan. In such a case, the work of the Stakeholder Group, such as issue analysis and target-setting, is used to inform, if not direct, the recommendations of these statutory processes. However, if timing does not permit such direct linkage, the municipality should consider, at a minimum, the establishment of procedures and guidelines for municipal staff on how they must integrate the goals and proposals of the Action Plan into the statutory planning effort. Worksheet 6 is provided to assist in mapping out the schedules of different statutory planning processes and identify how these can be linked with the strategic planning and Action Plan implementation effort. Audit internal practices to make sure they are consistent with the Action Plan. 5.3 Internal Auditing and Monitoring The day-to-day implementation of an Action Plan requires the establishment of procedures and standards that municipal departments, service agencies, contractors, and suppliers must use to guide their behavior. There are three key elements for developing and implementing such procedures: • an audit of the compatibility of existing internal procedures and practices with the goals and targets of the Action Plan; • the establishment of procedures, rules, and standards that put the Action Plan into effect as a matter of internal operations; and • the establishment of a management system that monitors compliance with new procedures and standards. 5.3.1 INTERNAL AUDIT Just as financial auditing provides a procedure for the annual review of financial activities according to specified professional and legal standards, it is useful—and some might say necessary—for municipalities to review how their existing procedures and practices might support or hinder the implementation of an Action Plan. This review will provide a framework for introducing the http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (114 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide Action Plan to all municipal departments and agencies. Internal audits can be undertaken by external consultants or can be organized as participatory processes involving municipal staff. A participatory process will better guarantee that the Plan itself is fully understood, discussed, and even challenged by the municipal professionals who take responsibility for much of its implementation. In some cases, the review might result in proposals from staff to alter the Plan so that it can be better implemented. The two key elements of an effective auditing procedure are the audit criteria and the audit protocol. The audit criteria are the measures against which performance will be measured. The criteria are defined by the person requesting the audit and should be communicated to the party being audited prior to beginning the audit. In the case of sustainable development planning, the criteria are defined to test the consistency of current municipal practices, procedures, and policies with the goals, targets, and action strategies of the Action Plan. The audit protocol consists of a set of procedures that will be used by the auditor to determine performance relative to the criteria. By applying a clear audit protocol, a similar audit by different auditors should produce similar results. Reform the standard operating procedures of municipal departments to assure compatibility with the Action Plan. Create an internal management system to review the compatibility of proposed projects or developments with the Action Plan. 5.3.2 REFORM OF PROCEDURES, RULES, AND STANDARDS Based upon an internal audit of the compatibility of municipal practices with the plan, a municipality can identify and define what procedures, rules, and standards will need to be reformed in order to support implementation of the Plan. An inter-departmental committee can serve as an internal stakeholder group to review proposals generated by staff and prepare a comprehensive proposal for procedural reform to be submitted to department heads or directly to the elected municipal Council. 5.3.3 INTERNAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Following an initial audit and reform of municipal procedures, a system needs to be put in place to ensure that future actions or plans of the municipality are consistent with the objectives set forward in the Plan. For this purpose, a variety of environmental management systems (EMS) have been designed for both private sector and government application. These systems establish the organizational structure, responsibilities, and procedures that will be consistently used by the municipality to achieve its goals and control its impacts. Typical EMS procedures require systematic internal reviews of proposed development activities before these proposals are submitted to decision-making bodies. These procedures identify the extent of possible impacts that a project might have and define when a detailed environmental or social impact assessment should be undertaken to help mitigate negative impacts. Case #16 presents the environmental management system applied by the City of Ottawa, Canada, to assure that all development activities undertaken by any municipal department are reviewed before implementation. The Ottawa system is a general review system to assure compliance with environmental regulations and is not linked to any specific Action Plan. The Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth, Canada, has established a simple procedure that requires all departmental submissions to Regional Council Committees to be evaluated according to how the proposal would advance or undermine implementation of its VISION 2020 Action Plan. The reporting procedure is described in the region’s Sustainable Community Decision Making Guide, which was officially adopted by the Regional Council. In another case (Case #7), New York City, USA, established the position of an environmental Ombudsman to work with the community of WORKSHEET 7 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY FOR ACTION PLAN TARGETS http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (115 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
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