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Cheshire Eco Audit 21
The Cheshire Eco Audit is an initiative aimed at raising environmental awareness in the community, particularly in public organisations and private businesses. It attempts to make organisations more aware of their impact upon the environment and to improve their operations and activities. This case study from August 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 Knowledge Empowerment

Cheshire Eco Audit 21

The Cheshire Eco Audit is an initiative aimed at raising environmental awareness in the community, particularly in public organisations and private businesses. It attempts to make organisations more aware of their impact upon the environment and to improve their operations and activities.

This case study from August 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

Knowledge

Empowerment

Project Summary

Considered an important strand of Cheshire's Local Agenda 21 process, Cheshire Eco Audit 21 is a quick, no-cost environmental assessment procedure. The Cheshire Eco Audit Task Group which is developing the initiative is part of the Sustainable Cheshire Forum, a grouping of some forty independently-led representatives. The Task Group, formed from ten representatives of private, public and voluntary groups, provides a steering group to oversee implementation. The group has developed its own simple audit model that can be adapted to a wide variety of organisations. It highlights environmental impact, informs and educates organisations about how to manage impacts and leads to better environmental practice.

Project aims

The Eco Audit Task Group of the Sustainable Cheshire Forum aims to devise a straightforward, user friendly method of assessing environmental performance. It is to be applied to all types of sites, buildings and activities ranging from chemical works and churches to waste sites.

The Group is concerned to raise environmental awareness, practice and management standards throughout Cheshire, particularly among the business sector and in charity and community groups with responsibility for providing services locally.

It is hoped that the Eco Audit will act as a first step to one of the formal environmental management schemes such as ISO 14001, EMAS, Eco Schools or the Green Leaf Scheme.

How did it start?

The Eco Audit Task Group is one of eight subgroups of the Sustainable Cheshire Forum, set up by Cheshire County Council. Consisting of representatives from the public, private and voluntary sectors, the Task Group was formed to generate the Cheshire Agenda 21. One aspect of its work involved developing and piloting an audit procedure which would be capable of measuring the environmental impact of a wide variety of organisations. Eco Audit 21 was developed from the (then) Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution's Operator Performance Risk Appraisal, although substantial changes have been made to the format of the model to make it more adaptable to all types of organisations.

The model has three main components which are used to assess an organisation's environmental impact:

The chance of polluting - the threat of the organisation causing environmental damage.
The performance rating - the measures implemented by the organisation to manage its environmental impact.
The future audit frequency.

The project is now run by the Task Group and a grant-aided full time officer whose work is overseen by the Sustainable Cheshire Forum. A partnership between the County Council and Environment Agency has provided funds for a six month pilot period. It is intended that in future, the work will be undertaken by secondees from Cheshire industry. The Group meets monthly and to date thirty five audits have been undertaken involving forty volunteer auditors. Through the pilots, the audit model has been refined and the number of auditors increased by bringing in more members of the Sustainable Cheshire Forum.

Who has been involved?

The Eco Audit Task Group developed from the Sustainable Cheshire Forum and now consists of ten members. It includes representatives of the Environment Agency, the County Council, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, Health Authority, private sector representatives and Friends of the Earth. The Group is led by the Director of the Mersey Basin Business Foundation.

A variety of different types of establishment have been audited, ranging from a highways depot, church and hotel to a newspaper office, bus depot, library and heritage site. There is a programme of audits covering tourism sites, schools and retail premises for the remainder of 1997.

OUTCOMES

Achievements

Thirty five audits have been carried out, starting first with various County Council sites and then extending out to private businesses, charities and institutions. During this time the model has been refined and the number of auditors increased by bringing in more members of the Sustainable Cheshire Forum and other interested parties. An auditor training programme is run by Cheshire County Council. Prospective auditors attend six two-hour sessions at which trained auditors run workshops, give lectures explaining the audit model and establish the basic standards of performance required.

A confidential report setting out current environmental performance is produced for the audited organisation. It has been found that existing environmental performance varies considerably.

The initiative has helped to raise environmental awareness among a wide variety of organisations.

Unexpected outcomes

The auditing process can vary greatly depending on the person within the organisation that is interviewed. Ideally, the interviewee should be aware of all the procedures and activities within the organisation and should also know what actually happens rather than what should happen. 'Public relations' responses elicited from a company representative can adversely affect the outcome of an audit and the process needs to be able to reach beyond this and establish the real facts.

RESOURCES AND MANAGEMENT

Human resources

Audit teams are made up of four Task Group members, each with different skills and experience. While a number of the Task Group are experienced environmental auditors, the model does not require each member of an audit team to be experienced.

The team visits the premises of the organisation being audited and undertakes a detailed question and answer session with a senior representative of that organisation. This is followed by a tour around the site. Finally a detailed report is submitted to the organisation setting out current levels of environmental performance, making recommendations for improvement and establishing a baseline for monitoring future progress.

The Eco Audit model is being continuously monitored and developed by the Eco Audit Task Group.

Funding and expenditure

No funding has been required during the trial period. The auditors' time and expertise has been given freely on a 'no cost' basis. The pilot phase has involved around thirty per cent. of the staff time of a County Council officer. Grant aid organised through StudentForce for Sustainability, a charity seeking to involve students in Agenda 21, has provided funding for a six month full time post.

Project management

The project is run by the Task Group which meets bi-monthly. A County Council Officer in the Environmental Planning Service with particular responsibility for EMAS facilitates the Group.

Measuring success

The Eco Audit has successfully raised environmental awareness among a wide range of organisations.
The audit model that the Task Group has developed has generally been found to be user friendly and adaptable. Two hours is normally sufficient to complete an audit.
A large number of audits has been carried out on a wide range of organisations.
The number of auditors has increased.
A volunteer training programme has been established.

Problem areas

Problems have been experienced in the amount of time it has taken to approach and receive approval from organisations to carry out an audit. Some organisations have shown a reluctance to participate and most need to obtain approval from head office before going ahead. The Task Group has recognised the need for a dedicated officer to co-ordinate the project and has set up a database to help deal with the range of time consuming tasks.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The Task Group aims to review and refine the audits even further in the future. With grant aid or secondment to cover the full time post, the number of audits can be increased considerably. The Group hopes that in this way the process will cascade out into the wider community while remaining at low cost.

Contact address

John Pearson / Theresa Austin
Environmental Planning Services
Cheshire County Council
Commerce House
Hunter Street
Chester
Cheshire
CH1 2QP
Tel: 01244 603191
Fax: 01244 603033

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.