Resource Pack
A set of tools, images, videos and guides to help you make the most of the Great Collaboration. Specifically aimed at parish/town councils. Select documents, images, templates from the left menu
You may download a copy of the handbook from the link above, or review its text below. Note that the menu to the left links you to the resources themselves, to help you in these actions:
Local Council Handbook
How to use The Great Collaboration Toolkit
to support climate and environmental action within your local council area.
Contents
Four Simple Steps
Accessing Resources
2.1 Email Support
2.2 The Local Council Resource Pack
Declare
3.1 Preparing a Declaration
3.2 Considerations
3.3 Biodiversity Policy
Promote
4.1 The More People Using the Toolkit, the Better
4.2 Communication Channels
4.3 Social Media Engagement
4.4 Promotion Schedule
4.5 Understanding Your Audience – Residents
4.6 Understanding Your Audience – Businesses
Plan
5.1 The Range of Planning Guidance
5.2 Preparing a Carbon Reduction Plan
5.3 Reviewing the Carbon Reduction Plan
Report
6.1 Getting Reports from the Website
6.2 Using the Reports
Four Simple Steps
The Great Collaboration Toolkit is a website at https://www.greatcollaboration.uk. Your residents and businesses can use the Toolkit right now. The more that use it, the more accurate the data produced.
To really get the benefits for your community, follow these four steps. You’ll find more information about each step in subsequent sections.
Expect to review the last three steps annually.
Declare
Have your local council make a policy decision.
Promote
Use the promotion resources provided to inspire your residents and businesses to get involved.
Plan
Write down what you will do actively to support a handful of The Great Collaboration’s actions over the coming year.
Report
Use the reports from the website to inform the local council so that you can make policy decisions.
Accessing Resources
Email Support
If you need any help establishing The Great Collaboration in your local council, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
The Local Council Resource Pack
You can access the Local Council Resource Pack on the For Local Councils page of our website. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button.
The Resource Pack is organised into four sub-folders, one for each of the four steps:
Declare
Promote
Plan
Report
We’ll be adding to the Resource Pack as time goes on, so please check back regularly to see what’s changed.
Declare
Preparing a Declaration
Take a copy of the Local Council Climate Emergency Declaration Template.docx file from the Declare folder in the Resource Pack.
Edit the document using Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or similar, making appropriate changes to the parts highlighted in pink, including renaming the document and/or its title to be appropriate to your Local Council, as well as any further changes to the document required for your local situation.
Present the amended document to your Local Council colleagues for review and approval. Once it is approved by the full council, have the chairman sign it.
Considerations
The suggested Community Carbon Calculator (https://impact-tool.org.uk) is supported by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and the Centre for Sustainable Energy amongst others, and it publishes its methodology.
It gives parish and small community-level information, so it makes sense to use the results from this calculator as your starting point, even if in future years a wider range of tools become available.
Biodiversity Policy
Another option in line with every local council’s duty to consider biodiversity in everything they do is to adopt a biodiversity policy using the template in the Resource Pack.
Promote
The More People Using the Toolkit, the Better
The local data produced by the Toolkit paints a powerful picture of what’s happening in your community—if a good proportion of your residents and businesses are using it.
Encourage people to register and record their actions. It may be helpful to set a target, such as 10% of households using the Toolkit. Once reached, set a new target… and keep going!
Communication Channels
Some channels you might use:
Notice boards
Local magazines
Newsletters
Websites
Social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Community events
Social Media Engagement
The Great Collaboration has an active social media presence on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thegreatcollaboration1.
Ways to engage:
Like
Reshare
Follow
Tag in relevant posts
Reply
The Promote folder of the Resource Pack contains a Promotion Ideas spreadsheet with:
Toolkit Actions: Text and images for social media posts.
Environmental Days: Upcoming national/international days with ready-to-use content.
Promotion Schedule
Decide on a promotion frequency that is realistic yet effective. Example:
1 Blog per week, posted on all channels.
2 Facebook posts per week.
1 Newsletter per month.
1 Community event per quarter.
Plan
The Range of Planning Guidance
The Plan folder in the Resource Pack contains guidance and templates for:
Environmental Planning Guidance
Climate Action for Smaller Councils
Commenting on Local Planning Applications
Simple Guide to Biodiversity Net Gain
Local Councils’ Powers & Opportunities around Climate Change
Funding Sources for Climate & Environmental Action
Preparing a Carbon Reduction Plan
Take a copy of the Local Council Carbon Reduction Actions Template.docx from the Plan folder.
Rename the document.
Edit using Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Choose a handful of actions to focus on.
Be specific about what you will do.
Use Toolkit reports to prioritize actions.
Reviewing the Carbon Reduction Plan
Review the plan annually to keep it relevant. Mark completed actions as DONE IN to maintain a historical record.
Report
Getting Reports from the Website
Log in to The Great Collaboration Toolkit to find reports under the Insights page.
Using the Reports
The Insights reports track user engagement.
The Local Council Report provides detailed data for policy decisions.
Reviewing the Local Council Report annually is more effective than reviewing it at every meeting.
The Great Collaboration is supported by funding from MCS Charitable Foundation.
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