StayGreen is a website and toolkit designed to help Town, Parish & Community Councils identify and implement ‘best practice’ sustainability policies. Town, Parish and Community Councils cover around a third of the nation’s landmass and have a cumulative budget in the region of £1 billion. They are also closely connected to their communities and therefore well placed to lead on sustainability actions.

Initial work on the toolkit began in the summer of 2020 and came from the need to develop a sustainability plan for the parish but inability to find relevant, parish-specific resources to aid the task. To date, StayGreen has received funding from research councils through the University of Warwick, with the most recent round of funding allowing for the short-term employment of 12 research assistants to help to complete the sustainability matrix.

Work on the project began with a literature review and engagement with local councils to ensure the tool was both relevant and accessible for its intended audience. We have also engaged with a broad range of national stakeholders during the design process including: Ashden, Climate Emergency, The Scottish Government, Herefordshire Green Network, Aberdeen Climate Action Network, CarbonCopy, Democratic Society and the Centre for Alternative Technology. This widespread consultation has ensured that StayGreen is focussed on ‘best practice’, while also creating a network of potential partners and collaborators for the future.

During this event we will be introducing the StayGreen website to Herefordshire as well as providing an update about The Great Collaboration project.