Surfin' PL4..........

One of the questions I often get asked is which of the four themes of SLGP is my specialism; well, I guess sustainability and governance are the ones I always respond with. But there are a few stories which have caught my eye this week in the news which combine all four strands, of Sustainable Leadership, Governance and Policy. Firstly, we are about to see the launch of Enterprise Zones across England. Without discussing the politics of these at length here, the one thing the debate on Enterprise Zones lacks is people sitting on the fence. Those in favour of the Zones point out the benefits to local businesses and consumers, and the ability to harness local ideas.

Though Plymouth is not one of these zones, there is a large amount of local business connected to the sea- and also connected to each of the four strands we research and engage with in SLGP. This week, one of our members, Dr Gregory Borne of the Public Policy team, an expert on sustainability and global governance, had some fantastic media coverage as he looks at sustainability in the surfing industry with US partners.

Travelling back on the train to Plymouth on Sunday from London, I was struck by two things: one, the amount of small businesses in the region focused on sustainability; and second, the amount of conversations people on the train were having about the role of sustainable development in planning. Evidently, people will have individual political views, but this is a much larger debate than tribalist politics. The focus on sustainable development in planning policy currently provides an opportunity to revisit what we mean by sustainable development and sustainability. For some, this is a tired debate, but the more people across different sectors that want to engage in governance and sustainability, perhaps the greater need to revisit our ideas. The roots of the sustainable development agenda are well known, but the criticism that will not go away from debate is the lack of clarity that sometimes surrounds the term. Given the growing role of business in sustainable development and sustainability- not least with some fantastic sustainable food producing enterprises here in the south west- we need to be clear about how we select the right targets and meet them, and how business and HE can help in that goal.