About the Toolkit
How to use this Toolkit
This online Toolkit has been developed as a response to SSN members' experience in supporting the delivery of the Duty of Sustainable Development within the Best Value regime. It is an interactive tool that will be updated to ensure local experience and external expertise is shared with all those responsible for delivering sustainable development and Best Value.
This online tool will evolve with your contributions and feedback ... please send SSN your ideas, links to useful resources, and examples of the mainstreaming of sustainable development at the local level (indicators, details of corporate processes, training resources etc). Contact us.
Ways in which this Toolkit could be used:
- Raising awareness of best value and sustainable development with local authority officers and elected members;
- Contributing to training of local authority officers on what sustainable development looks like at service level;
- Getting service managers, including senior staff, to recognise how what they do contributes to sustainable development;
- Assessing the stage that authorities and services have reached, and then identifying priorities for improvement; and
- Drawing up sustainable development strategies and action plans at Council level, and linking these to community planning and to service improvement plans.
For Elected Members, Chief Executives and Directors, this online tool will enable you to demonstrate the leadership and create the corporate culture necessary to mainstream sustainable development within your Council.
For Sustainable Development and Best Value Officers, this site will provide you with the tools to assess your local authorities delivery of sustainable development, in preparation for your Best Value Audit.
For Heads of Service, the service-specific level guidance will help you to ensure that your service plans contribute to sustainable development.
Who produced and supports this toolkit?
Best Value & Sustainable Development: a Toolkit for Local Authorities was published by the Sustainable Scotland Network in September 2006. It was commended to local authorities by Ruth Parsons (Head of Public Service Reform & Efficiency Group, Scottish Executive) and John Mason (Head of Environment Group, Scottish Executive). 
Download the letter of commendation
This Toolkit is advisory and supplements the guidance issued in 2004 by the Best Value Taskforce on behalf of Scottish Ministers.
The Sustainable Scotland Network is the network of local authority sustainable development officers and advocates from Scotland's 32 local authorities. The organisation seeks to promote good practice and improvement in local authorities sustainable development performance. The network's priority themes are Best Value, Climate Change, Local Footprinting, Sustainable Procurement, and training and capacity building. Go to the Sustainable Scotland Network's homepage
The document is supported by The Scottish Government, The Sustainable Development Commission Scotland, WWF Scotland and COSLA. It has been developed in close consultation with local authority sustainable development and Best Value practitioners and it aims to help support continuous improvement on sustainable development across local authority services.
The document was written by Tim Birley, BSc(Eng) ACGI MSc FRSA, Facilitator and Adviser on Sustainable Development.
