Vol. 475 No. 4
52 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment if the local agenda 21 plans for sustainable development, which will be incorporated in the strategic management plans, will be adopted by local authorities or if they will be in parallel; and if he will require or advise local authorities to include sustainability indicators among the various performance indicators. [5015/97]
The guidelines on local agenda 21 which my Department issued in 1995, emphasised that local agenda 21 is part of the process of defining and articulating sustainable development considerations at a local level. They advised that local authorities could choose different means to develop the process and different ways of reporting its outcome and defining an appropriate local agenda 21 for their areas. In these circumstances, it is a matter for each local authority to decide how best to deal with local agenda 21 initiatives in the context of their management strategies and general operations.
Better Local Government — A Programme for Change emphasises the importance of performance indicators as a means to secure improvement in the quality of local authority services. A working group is to be established to assist in the task of identifying key performance indicators for local authorities. Emerging work, in Ireland and elsewhere, in relation to indicators of sustainability will be taken into account in this context.
