Local Soils
Funded by the UKRI Impact Acceleration Award and supported by local authority partners, this project aims to promote the inclusion of sustainable soil policies into Local Authority local plans. This builds on a previous collaboration that produced the Building on Soil Sustainability: Principles for soils in planning and construction report. Collaborating with Lancaster City and Cornwall Councils, we seek to develop a model policy and resources that support soil sustainability engagement and decision making more broadly. This initiative will primarily benefit planning professionals in local authorities by providing guidance on integrating sustainability practices into their work, and thereby contribute to positive climate, food, water, and biodiversity outcomes for their communities and local economies.
Our approach
The project has five key stages:
1
Focus groups
Online focus groups will develop a baseline understanding of what developers, contractors, planners, development managers, architects, etc. do and do not know about soils. The outcomes of the focus groups will be used to set out the key knowledge strengths and gaps to highlight where engagement materials need to focus.
2
Policy co-design workshops
Two in-person workshops, each with participants across planning and development sectors, will focus on the co-design of a local soil policy in Lancaster and Cornwall, developing model policies in varied contexts with differing challenges and priorities.
3
4
5
Policy testing workshop
The prototype engagement materials and toolkit, developed after the policy
co-design workshops will be shared and tested through on-line workshops.
Final model policies and toolkit
Building on feedback from all stakeholders the prototype engagement toolkit will be finalised and model policies will be reported.
Dissemination
​All partners and key stakeholders will disseminate the project outputs through online webinars, this website, relevant events and conferences.
​The workshops are by invitation only, if you are interested in attending please contact Prof. Jess Davies (jess.davies@lancaster.ac.uk).