LUC was commissioned to act as a Critical Friend to support the Lake District National Park Authority (NPA) with the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of their Management Plan.
SA is a requirement in England & Wales and considers the environmental, social and economic implications of implementing policies, plans and programmes.
The SA procedure tends to be resource-hungry so has traditionally been undertaken by consultants. The Lake District NPA wished to undertake their SA in house, but also needed to ensure that the SA/SEA report was legally compliant and fit for purpose. By acting as a ‘Critical Friend’, LUC was able to support the NPA through the process, acting as a sounding board, proof reading drafts of the report and checking for issues of soundness and compliance. The ‘Critical Friend’ role is empowering to clients, building capacity within the client team to undertake future SA.
Acting as a ‘Critical Friend’ to the Lake District NPA was particularly rewarding. The LUC team helped build in-house skills and capacity in SA, sharing knowledge of the value of SA and encouraging challenging thinking in relation to the Management Plan. LUC’s project manager developed a close working relationship with the Lake District NPA Project Manager, making it easier to share knowledge and ideas, whilst still being critical where necessary.
Client feedback was very positive: “From inception the advice provided was very clear and professional and delivered in a ‘non consultant’ type manner, which is refreshing. Jeremy provided a good platform for Juliette’s excellent, professional and friendly assistance. Overall making a quite dry SA process altogether more enjoyable.”
