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Good for Business, Good for the Environment
A partnership project which is trying to reach those parts others usually don't - the small business sector. A survey has identified the sector's main problem areas and obstacles and advice on good environmental management is now being offered to, and also by, small firms in and around Canterbury. This case study from February 1997 is presented in the original format as provided by the Local Government Management Board in the UK, as part of the cross-sectoral Local Agenda 21 case study project.	Resources Pollution Local needs Satisfying work Empowerment

Good for Business,
Good for the Environment

A partnership project which is trying to reach those parts others usually don't - the small business sector. A survey has identified the sector's main problem areas and obstacles and advice on good environmental management is now being offered to, and also by, small firms in and around Canterbury.

This case study from February 1997 is presented in the original format as provided by the Local Government Management Board in the UK, as part of the cross-sectoral Local Agenda 21 case study project.

Resources

Pollution

Local needs

Satisfying work

Empowerment

Project Summary

The Good for Business, Good for the Environment project has opened up communications among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Canterbury area, the City Council and other agencies. Assessment of the environmental knowledge and needs of local businesses has led to the establishment of a range of local self-help networks centred on local businesses and key local advisory agencies.

Project aims

The project was established to help small businesses located in the Canterbury area primarily, but also in East Kent. It is concerned with providing help on environmental management to smaller SMEs (in this case, firms with less than ten employees), particularly from the office, retail and tourism sectors.

Who has been involved?

Canterbury City Council, Canterbury Business School (part of the University of Kent), East Kent Initiative (a public/private sector partnership), the Government Office for the South East's Energy and Environmental Management Unit and Kent County Council's Economic Development Department.

How was it started?

The project started as a consequence of work undertaken by Canterbury's former Environmental Co-ordinator, Fay Blair, and a postgraduate student from Wye College, Penny Sharp.

Initial survey work began in August 1995 to find out how much local businesses knew about the process of environmental management and auditing and whether they were aware of the benefits in efficiency that it can bring.

A summary report of these survey findings was presented and discussed at a business seminar hosted by the University of Kent. A follow-up business workshop programme was organised during BT Environment Week 1996.

OUTCOMES

Achievements

The survey found that:

smaller businesses are generally unaware of what exactly Environmental Management Systems (EMS) are, and how they can benefit business (78 per cent. of respondents were not at all familiar with the concept of EMS, EMAS or BS7750, 59 per cent. said they didn't receive enough help or advice from outside organisations and 43 per cent. wanted more information about environmental issues);
SMEs are often put off or intimidated by the jargon used in existing environmental advice schemes;
for 'help' to be constructive, it needs to be locally accessible, available at times which suit the business community and ideally provided for little or no charge.

Unexpected outcomes

The Canterbury District business survey achieved a 12 per cent. response rate - 342 questionnaires were returned, a high response for the usually 'difficult to reach' SME sector. Of these respondents, 77 per cent. had less than twenty employees and over a third were from the retail sector. Unexpected findings included:

many small businesses are concerned about environmental issues but don't know where to start or whom to contact for help;
only four per cent. of the firms which replied to the survey had carried out some kind of environmental audit.

Another consequence of the work has been the creation of an informal 'Environmental Business Breakfast Forum' by a small group of local businesses. This Forum has come up with some excellent ideas and initiatives. For example, the group is taking forward the 'Next Generation's Business Environmental Audit', a project linking the sixth form of a local school with seven local companies.

The momentum for this initiative now comes from the private sector. The local authority is kept informed of progress, invited to attend meetings and sometimes asked for modest backup and support.

RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT

Human resources

Devising the survey, analysing the returns and reporting findings was undertaken by Penny Sharp as part of her MSc thesis. Partly as a result of this work, she is now Canterbury Council's Local Agenda 21 Co-ordinator (replacing Fay Blair who has moved to Maidstone Borough Council).

Funding and expenditure

The City Council provided the funding and staff resource for producing and mailing out the survey. The Canterbury Business School, University of Kent, hosted meetings and seminars and helped out in a number of other ways.

A series of workshops held on 21 May 1996, entitled 'A Greener Business: Practical and Profitable Solutions', cost a total of £1,500. Of this, £1,000 went towards advertising the event and producing a brochure, with the remainder covering guest speakers' fees and travel expenses.

The money came from Canterbury City Council, Kent County Council, East Kent Initiative, and the Government Office for the South East through its Regional Energy and Environmental Management Unit (REEMU).

Project management

Central co-ordination, 'nudging' and project development has been undertaken by Canterbury Council's Environmental Co-ordinator with help from the East Kent Initiative (via a secondee in the Planning Department).

Important milestones in the development of the initiative so far have included:

January 1996
'Good for Business, Good for the Environment' seminar.

May 1996
'A Green Business: Practical and Profitable Solutions' seminar.

June 1996
First meeting of the Environmental Business Breakfast Forum (EBBF) at which project proposals were discussed and agreed.

July 1996
Meeting between EBBF and City Council to take forward proposals.

August 1996
Kent County Council Economic Development Department draft a proposal with the East Kent Initiative to develop a case study and fund a training programme to produce trainers in environmental management.

Measuring success

The proposals which have emerged from the network of interested parties, for example the Environmental Business Breakfast Forum.
Private sector interest and momentum to carry forward and implement new initiatives and projects.

Problem areas

Too much happening too quickly! BT Environment Week 1996 was already packed full of events and it proved quite a strain to give the urgent, ongoing support to the nucleus of interest established by the seminar.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

To date, the project has:

enhanced local knowledge of the 'help' agencies and networks which are available;
shown that many 'help' networks and business advisers do not have the training to promote good, 'green' management in businesses as part of their advice package to businesses;
galvanised key agencies such as the County Council and Business Link (Kent) to take action and exert their influence in setting up strategic training programmes to advise business advisers.

Future plans for the project include:

the East Kent Initiative and Kent County Council jointly developing a Green Audit Kit training programme for local implementation;

support for other initiatives which come out of the Environmental Business Breakfast Forum. A seminar is planned to share the case study experiences of 'The Next Generation's Business Environmental Audit' proposal devised by EBBF;

the key partners/stakeholders of this project will be represented on the 'Sustainable Economic Development' forum which is feeding into the Canterbury District Local Agenda 21.

Contact addresses

Penny Sharp
Local Agenda 21 Co-ordinator
Environment and Health Department
Canterbury City Council
Military Road
Canterbury
Kent
CT12 1YW

Tel: 01227 763763 ext. 4594
Fax: 01227 785705

Fay Blair
Environmental Initiatives Co-ordinator
Directorate of Planning and Development
Maidstone Borough Council
13 Tonbridge Road
Maidstone
Kent
ME16 8HG

Tel: 01622 602246
Fax: 01622 602444

The Local Agenda 21 Case Study Project Steering Committee has selected case study projects as examples of interesting (and not necessarily 'good') practice. Case study selection is based on the opinions of the individuals comprising the Steering Committee and does not necessarily reflect the views of the organisations participating in the Case Study Project.

At the time of publication and to the best of our knowledge, the information contained in this case study was correct.

The Steering Committee cannot vouch for any of the organisations involved.